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Evolution

Title:		Sexual selection drives the evolution of antiaphrodisiac pheromones in butterflies
Author(s):		Estrada C; Schulz S; Yildizhan S; Gilbert LE;
Address:		"Section of Integrative Biology, and Brackenridge Field Laboratory, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. estradac@si.edu"
Journal Title:		Evolution
Year:		2011
Volume:		20110613
Issue:		10
Page Number:		2843 - 2854
DOI:		10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01352.x
ISSN/ISBN:		1558-5646 (Electronic) 0014-3820 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Competition for mates has resulted in sophisticated mechanisms of male control over female reproduction. Antiaphrodisiacs are pheromones transferred from males to females during mating that reduce attractiveness of females to subsequent courting males. Antiaphrodisiacs generally help unreceptive females reduce male harassment. However, lack of control over pheromone release by females and male control over the amount transferred provides males an opportunity to use antiaphrodisiacs to delay remating by females that have returned to a receptive state. We propose a model for the evolution of antiaphrodisiacs under the influence of intrasexual selection, and determine whether changes in this signal in 11 species of Heliconius butterflies are consistent with two predictions of the model. First, we find that as predicted, male-contributed chemical mixtures are complex and highly variable across species, with limited phylogenetic signal. Second, differences in rates of evolution in pheromone composition between two major clades of Heliconius are as expected: the clade with a greater potential for male-male competition (polyandrous) shows a faster rate of divergence than the one with typically monoandrous mating system. Taken together, our results provide evidence that for females, antiaphrodisiacs can be both honest signals of receptivity (helping reduce harassment) and chastity belts (a male-imposed reduction in remating)"
Keywords:		"Animal Communication Animals *Biological Evolution Butterflies/chemistry/genetics/*physiology Female Male *Mating Preference, Animal Pheromones/*genetics;"
Notes:		"MedlineEstrada, Catalina Schulz, Stefan Yildizhan, Selma Gilbert, Lawrence E eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2011/10/05 Evolution. 2011 Oct; 65(10):2843-54. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01352.x. Epub 2011 Jun 13"