2025/08/01 by Lin Yan, Noah Joon Huh, Daniel Ibañez +3
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Allopatric speciation #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Assortative mating #Attraction #Biology #Courtship #Disruptive selection #Ecology #Evolutionary biology #Genetic diversity and population structure #Interspecific competition #Mate choice #Mating #Mating preferences #Natural selection #Population #Reproductive isolation #Selection (genetic algorithm) #Sexual selection #Spider Taxonomy and Behavior Studies #Sympatric speciation #Sympatry #Zoology
paper · doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.2754
published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 292(2053), 20242754 (Royal Society)
openalex publication_date 2025/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Heterospecific interactions between nascent species offer insights into how sexual selection shapes novel traits, illuminating patterns in species interactions and diversification. We tested female preferences between two recently diverged, allopatric species of jumping spiders: Habronattus americanus PLC, with red-coloured males performing short multimodal displays, and Habronattus sansoni CC, with brown-coloured males performing long multimodal displays. Mate choice experiments showed that females of both species preferred H. americanus PLC males. To examine the role of red coloration, we manipulated male coloration in both species. Results indicated that red-painted H. sansoni CC males experienced an increase in mating success, whereas brown-painted H. americanus PLC males did not show reduced success. Our study suggests that (i) strong latent female preferences can drive unidirectional introgression across species boundaries, potentially leading to genomic homogenization; (ii) latent preferences may override preferences for existing traits; and (iii) the geographical distribution of colour morphs is consistent with a hypothesis of strong latent preferences across populations. Overall, our study demonstrates the role that mating interactions can play in speciation dynamics.