Meeting Abstract

117.2  Tuesday, Jan. 7 10:30  Agonistic character displacement, not reproductive character displacement, explains variation in male wing patterns in rubyspot damselflies (Hetaerina spp.) DRURY, J.P.*; GRETHER, G.F.; Univ. of California, Los Angeles; Univ. of California, Los Angeles druryj@ucla.edu

Agonistic character displacement (ACD), a process wherein natural selection acts on traits that mediate the occurrence or outcome of interspecific aggression, is an understudied evolutionary phenomenon. Previous research suggests that patterns of geographic variation in wing coloration and competitor recognition of male rubyspot damselflies (Hetaerina spp.) have resulted from ACD. However, reproductive character displacement (RCD) may also have acted to produce the same geographic patterns, and recent theoretical work has shown that RCD dominates ACD when mate recognition and competitor recognition are based on the same traits. To determine whether female mate recognition in Hetaerina is based, in part, on male wing coloration, we carried out a phenotype manipulation experiment in the field. Compared to control males, male H. americana that we manipulated to have wing coloration resembling a sympatric congener (H. titia) suffered no reduction in attractiveness to conspecific females. Thus, at least in H. americana, female mate recognition is not based on male wing coloration. These results strengthen the case for ACD as the process responsible for the character displacement pattern in Hetaerina wing coloration.