Despite extensive literature on female mate choice, empirical evidence on women's preferences in the search for a sperm donor is scarce, even though this search, by isolating a male's genetic impact on offspring from other factors like paternal investment, offers a naturally 'controlled'...

Despite extensive literature on female mate choice, empirical evidence on women’s preferences in the search for a sperm donor is scarce, even though this search, by isolating a male’s genetic impact on offspring from other factors like paternal investment, offers a naturally 'controlled'...

Male-biased dimorphism in body size is usually attributed to sexual selection acting on males, through either male competition or female choice. Brown antechinuses (Antechinus stuartii) are sexually dimorphic in size, and heavier males are known to sire more offspring in the wild. We...

The avoidance of familiar individuals as mates can act to maximize the benefits of polyandry or might help to minimize inbreeding in small or highly philopatric populations. As previous mates are also familiar, the effects of familiarity and mating history can often be confounded. Here, we...

Analyzing the courtship behavior of long-legged flies (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), we focus on the evolutionary development of courtship signals. Long-legged flies may serve as a model for this evolutionary process, because males of some species present sexually dimorphic badges during courtship,...

Species recognition can often play a key role in female mating preferences. Far less is known about conspecific mate recognition from the male perspective. In many closely related taxa, females exhibit few obvious visual differences and males might have to attend to chemical cues in mate...

Ultraviolet (UV) vision is well documented for many species of vertebrates. UV cues are known to be used in foraging, navigation and in mate choice. We conducted a series of behavioral experiments to investigate the role of UV perception in mate choice in both female and male guppies (Poecilia...

Whether and how individuals choose sequentially among mates is an important but largely neglected aspect in sexual selection studies. Here, we explore female remating behavior in the cellar spider Pholcus phalangioides. We focus on body size as one of the most important traits involved in mate...

The order in which females encounter, or sample, males in a population may have important consequences for mate choice, with the information gathered about males influencing both the preference function and degree of choosiness of females. Sexual selection may be affected as a result. Sampling...