Drosophila females have an acoustic preference for symmetric males

Abstract

Significance Theoretically, symmetry in bilateral animals is subject to sexual selection, since it can serve as a proxy for genetic quality of competing mates during mate choice. Here, we report female preference for symmetric males in Drosophila , using a mate-choice paradigm where males with environmentally or genetically induced wing asymmetry were competed. Analysis of courtship songs revealed that males with asymmetric wings produced songs with asymmetric features that served as acoustic cues, facilitating this female preference. Females experimentally evolved in the absence of mate choice lost this preference for symmetry, suggesting that it is maintained by sexual selection.