Abstract
Sexually selected signals are common in many animals, though little reported in social insects. We investigated the occurrence of male visual signals mediating the dominance relationships among males and female choice of sexual partner in the paper wasp Polistes simillimus. Males have three conspicuous, variable and sexually dimorphic traits: black pigmentation on the head, a pair of yellow abdominal spots and body size differences. By conducting behavioral assays, we found that none of the three visual traits are associated with male-male dominance relationship. However, males with higher proportion of black facial pigmentation and bigger yellow abdominal spots are more likely chosen as sexual partners. Also, after experimentally manipulating the proportion of black pigment on males' face, we found that females may evaluate male facial coloration during the choice of a sexual partner. Thus, the black pigmentation on P. simillimus male's head appears to play a role as a sexually selected visual signal. We suggest that sexual selection is a common force in Polistes and we highlight the importance of this group as a model for the study of visual communication in insects.
Highlights
Males often present conspicuous traits that act as signals of quality mediating competition for reproductive opportunities [1,2]
It means that body size alone affects the black pigmentation on the head but this effect is different in males and females
Female choice of sexual partner is linked to the proportion of black pigment in the male’s head so that males with high rather than low proportion of black pigment on the head are chosen as sexual partners
Summary
Males often present conspicuous traits that act as signals of quality mediating competition for reproductive opportunities [1,2]. Nests, exaggerated plumage, bright colors, horns, acoustic and behavioral repertoires are commonly used to convey information about an individual’s ability, such as foraging, fighting, resistance to parasites and good genes [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. These sexually selected signals drive the disputes between males for access to females (intrasexual competition), the female choice of sexual partners (intersexual competition), or both. There is a lack of data concerning sexually selected traits in social insects and some researchers have claimed that sexual selection in these insects is weak [21]
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