On the Evolution of Female Mating Preferences as Pleiotropic Byproducts of Adaptive Evolution

Abstract

Although evidence is mounting that female mating preferences evolve at least in part as inciden tal (pleiotropic) consequences of alleles favored by natural selection, it is less clear how such pref erences can evolve when they are initially maladaptive, as by delaying reproduction. I extend a previous model by Tomlinson and O'Donald (1996) to investigate how dominance, sex-linkage, and sex-limitation affect the evolution of a costly new female preference. I find that recessivity of the new female preference can allow it to spread as a pleiotropic byproduct of adaptive evolution even when the novel preference is initially extremely detrimental. Further, three predictions of this model are satisfied by empirical data on the genetics of female mating preferences in Drosophila. Taken together, these findings suggest that incidental association of novel female preferences with alleles under selection could be a potent force in the origin and evolution of novel female mating preferences.