Absence of female preference and the origin of a unisexual species, the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa)

Absence of female preference and the origin of a unisexual species, the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Absence of female preference and the origin of a unisexual species, the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) Caden Smith, Waldir Miron Berbel de Filho, Montrai Spikes, Frederic Fyon, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2948357/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 10 May, 2024 Read the published version in Ethology → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The role of hybridization as a formative process in evolution has received much attention in the past few decades. A particularly fascinating outcome of hybrid speciation is the formation of asexual hybrid species. This is the case in the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa). It is of hybrid origin and had a P. mexicana female as mother and a P. latipinna male as father. This implies that at the beginning of the existence of Amazon mollies, a heterospecific mating must have occurred, indicating a breakdown of any potential prezygotic isolation between parental species. We studied the female mate choice behavior with present day P. mexicana and P. latipinna from several populations using standard binary choice tests. Overall, our results show that in extant P. mexicana and P. latipinna no female choice for conspecific males was detectable. Consequently, heterospecific matings are possible, even likely, and not hindered by any apparent behavioral prezygotic isolation. If female preferences in these species were comparable around the time the Amazon molly originated as a hybrid species ca. 100.000 years ago, matings leading to hybrids would be very likely. Furthermore, for the first time we tested the mating preferences of F1 hybrid females and found that they also have no discernable mating preferences, potentially leading to F2 individuals and/or backcrosses. Full Text Supplementary Files Smithetal.SupplementalTable1.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 10 May, 2024 Read the published version in Ethology → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-2948357","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":209631114,"identity":"668fdf85-3be4-4699-9b8f-42932e39a5ec","order_by":0,"name":"Caden Smith","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"OU: The University of Oklahoma","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Caden","middleName":"","lastName":"Smith","suffix":""},{"id":209631115,"identity":"bd2d91e1-2f63-41c2-93bf-dcdcb66c387a","order_by":1,"name":"Waldir Miron Berbel de Filho","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"OU: The University of 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