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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Assessing Differences in Sperm Competitive Ability in Drosophila
Published on: August 22, 2013
Sexual selection can resolve sex-linked sexual antagonism
Arianne Y K Albert1, Sarah P Otto
1Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada. albert@zoology.ubc.ca
Abstract:
Sexual selection is a potent evolutionary force. However, very few models have considered the evolution of female preferences for traits expressed in both sexes. Here we explore how female preferences coevolve with sexually antagonistic traits, which involve alleles that are beneficial to one sex but harmful to the other. We show that with a sexually antagonistic trait on the X chromosome (males XY, females XX), females evolve to prefer mates carrying alleles beneficial to daughters. In contrast, with a Z-linked trait (males ZZ, females ZW), females more often evolve mating preferences for mates carrying alleles beneficial to sons (that is, flashy displays).
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