THE INHERITANCE OF SOCIAL-DOMINANCE, MATING-BEHAVIOR AND ATTRACTIVENESS TO MATES IN MALE NAUPHOETA-CINEREA

In the cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea, male social behaviour is influenced by sexual selection due to mate choice by females for dominant males. This paper reports the results of breeding experiments in N. cinerea that document genetic variation in (1) male dominance rank, (2) components of courtship associated with differences in dominance rank and important in male mating success, and (3) male attractiveness to females. Dominant males typically produced offspring that were dominant in social interactions as adults; subordinate males produced subordinate offspring. Estimates of narrow-sense and broad-sense heritabilities of sexually selected male courtship behaviour indicated that moderate to high additive genetic variation persists despite sexual selection. Estimates of genetic correlations for different components of courtship and mating suggested similar genetic influences and that these components reflect male attractiveness to females. In addition to the variability in the length of interactions leading to copulation, some males were consistently rejected as mates. Male attractiveness to females was therefore a threshold character with two levels of expression; this acceptance/rejection threshold was also heritable. These results are consistent with studies of sexually selected morphology and suggest that there may be general patterns involved in the genetics of sexually selected traits. © 1990.