Experimental assessment of male attractiveness: female choice or Hobson's choice?

Article Abstract:

C.R.B. Boake's experiments on mate selection in the flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, is evaluated to assess the reliability of the methodology used. Using a pitfall trap apparatus, female flour beetles' preference for male beetles was tested using pheromones extracted from the males. The experiments showed that a hierarchy of attractiveness cannot be established because the responses of the females were not significantly different for each of the males used and because the female response further lacked consistency.

Behavior, Animal behavior, Flour beetles

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Independent versus nonindependent mate choice: do females copy each other?

Article Abstract:

Research and observations show that females tend to copy each other in their choice of mate. According to a game-theory model of mate choice, nonindependent mate choice or copying behavior increases significantly as a result of similar mate choice by other females, but not as a result of other behavior such as changes in male behavior consequent to mating success. Conspecific cueing and other copying behavior could have significance in different behavioral decisions as well.

Psychological aspects, Natural history, Sexual behavior in animals, Animal sexual behavior, Sex (Psychology), Sexuality

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Mimicry, mate choice, and the sensory trap hypothesis

Article Abstract:

The sensory traps influence mate choice when male courtship signals mimic stimuli initiating female response in various contexts and evoke female behavior that enhances male fertilization rates. The strategic designs of mimetic courtship signals arise from selection for answers to models. Examples of courtships in 5 species of crabs which provide proof of sensory traps are discussed.

Sexual selection in animals, Sexual selection (Natural selection)

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