Heightened condition dependent expression of structural coloration in the faces, but not wings, of male and female flies.

Abstract

Structurally colored sexual signals are a conspicuous and widespread class of ornament used in mate choice, though the extent to which they encode information on the quality of their bearers is not fully resolved. Theory predicts that signaling traits under strong sexual selection as honest indicators should evolve to be more developmentally integrated and exaggerated than nonsexual traits, thereby leading to heightened condition dependence. Here, we test this prediction through examination of the sexually dimorphic faces and wings of the cursorial fly Lispe cana. Males and females possess structural UV-white and golden faces, respectively, and males present their faces and wings to females during close-range, ground-based courtship displays, thereby creating the opportunity for mutual inspection. Across a field-collected sample of individuals, we found that the appearance of the faces of both sexes scaled positively with individual condition, though along separate axes. Males in better condition expressed brighter faces as modeled according to conspecific flies, whereas condition scaled with facial saturation in females. We found no such relationships for their wing interference pattern nor abdomens, with the latter included as a nonsexual control. Our results suggest that the structurally colored faces, but not the iridescent wings, of male and female L. cana are reliable guides to individual quality and support the broader potential for structural colors as honest signals. They also highlight the potential for mutual mate choice in this system, while arguing for 1 of several alternate signaling roles for wing interferences patterns among the myriad taxa which bear them.