Meeting Abstract

82.1  Thursday, Jan. 7  Naive mate preference modified by early experience in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana WESTERMAN, E.L.*; HODGINS-DAVIS, A.; MONTEIRO, A.; Yale University; Yale University; Yale University erica.westerman@yale.edu

Female mate preference can either be innate or driven by social experience. While there are a variety of vertebrate models demonstrating the importance of mate preference learning in species with parental care, examples of female mate preference learning in invertebrate species without parental care are largely unknown. Here we explored whether female mate preference can be modified by social experience in a butterfly. Female Bicyclus anynana select mates based on the presence of UV-reflective white scales in the centre of the dorsal eyespots of male forewings. We determined the naïve preference of both Wild type (two eyespots) and Spotty (four eyespots) females for Wt or Spotty males via choice experiments. We then tested the influence of social experience on mate preference by isolating newly emerged Wt females, exposing them to three-day old Spotty males for three hours, and testing realized mate preference two days later in choice trials between Wt and Spotty males. Realized mate preference for Wt males was compared between isolated females not exposed to Spotty males prior to testing, females exposed to but not courted by Spotty males prior to testing, and females exposed to and courted by Spotty males prior to testing. Both Wt and Spotty females had a naïve preference for Wt males. Females courted by Spotty males had a realized mate preference for Spotty males, while exposed but not courted females had a realized mate preference for Wt males, similar to unexposed females. These results demonstrate that mate preference can be modified by social experience in a female butterfly, suggesting that learning may play an important role in mate preference in insects without parental care.