Ancestral sex-role plasticity facilitates the evolution of same-sex sexual behavior.

ABSTRACT: Recent attempts to explain the evolutionary prevalence of same-sex sexual behavior (SSB) have focused on the role of indiscriminate mating. However, in many cases, SSB may be more complex than simple mistaken identity, instead involving mutual interactions and successful pairing between partners who can detect each other's sex. Behavioral plasticity is essential for the expression of SSB in such circumstances. To test behavioral plasticity's role in the evolution of SSB, we used termites to study how females and males modify their behavior in same-sex versus heterosexual pairs. Male termites follow females in paired "tandems" before mating, and movement patterns are sexually dimorphic. Previous studies observed that adaptive same-sex tandems also occur in both sexes. Here we found that sta

SUBMITTER: Mizumoto N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9674213 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature