Mating status affects female choice when females are signalers

• Main Authors: Groot, A.T (Author), Smallegange, I.M (Author), van Wijk, M. (Author), Zweerus, N.L (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Ltd 2022
• Subjects: Chloridea(Heliothis) virescens; female mate choice; female sexual behavior; mating status; multiple mating; signaling
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 Sexual selection in animals has been mostly studied in species in which males are signalers and females are choosers. However, in many species, females are (also) signalers. In species with non-signaling females, virgin females are hypothesized to be less choosy than mated females, as virgins must mate to realize fitness and the number of available males is generally limited. Yet, when females signal to attract males, mate limitation can be overcome. We tested how virgin and mated females differ in their calling behavior, mating latency, and in mate choice, using the tobacco budworm Chloridea (Heliothis) virescens as an example for a species in which females are not only choosers but also signalers. We found that virgin females signaled longer than mated females, but virgin and mated signaling females were equally ready to mate, in contrast to non-signaling females. However, we found that virgin signaling females showed weaker mate preference than mated females, which can be explained by the fact that females increase their fitness with multiple matings. Mated females may thus further increase their fitness by more stringent mate selection. We conclude that signaling is a crucial aspect to consider when studying female mate choice because signaling may affect the number of available mates to choose from. © 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.