Divergence in Female Duetting Signals in theEnchenopa binotataSpecies Complex of Treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

Abstract

AbstractSexual communication often involves signal exchanges between the sexes, or duetting, in which mate choice is expressed through response signals. With both sexes acting as signalers and receivers, variation in the signals of males and females may be important for mate choice, reproductive isolation, and divergence. In theEnchenopa binotataspecies complex – a case study of sympatric speciation in which vibrational duetting may have an important role – male signals are species‐specific, females choose among males on the basis of signal traits that reflect species and individual differences, and female preferences have exerted divergent selection on male signals. Here, we describe variation in female signals in theE. binotataspecies complex. We report substantial species differences in the spectral and temporal features of female signals, and in their timing relative to male signals. These differences were similar in range to differences in male signals in theE. binotatacomplex. We consider processes that might contribute to divergence in female signals, and suggest that signal evolution in theE. binotatacomplex may be influenced by mate choice in both sexes.