Mate choice in the predaceous mite Phytoseiulus persimilis:: evidence of self-referent phenotype matching?

Close inbreeding may have negative fitness effects. Consequently, organisms have evolved various mechanisms, which enable them to avoid close inbreeding. In no-choice and choice experiments we assessed whether the predaceous mite Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae) avoids close inbreeding by kin recognition. No-choice experiments demonstrated that virgin females more readily accept unrelated males than they accept related ones, which suggests a female preference for unrelated mates. Because each female had been reared in isolation prior to experiments, females most likely imprinted on themselves, and later used self-referent phenotype matching to assess potential mating partners. In contrast, neither female nor male choice experiments indicated a preference. Analyses of female and male behavior revealed that in choice experiments, female preference for unrelated males was probably confounded by male competition and/or altered by the different ecological context posed by choice experiments.