Learning affects mate choice in female fruit flies

Learning in the context of mate choice can influence sexualselection and speciation. Relatively little work, however, hasbeen conducted on the role of learning in the context of matechoice, and this topic has been mostly ignored in insects eventhough insects have served as a prime model system in researchon sexual selection and incipient speciation. Extending recentwork indicating apparently adaptive learning in the contextof sexual behavior by male fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster),I tested for the effect of learning on mate choice by femalefruit flies. Compared to young virgin females that experiencedcourtship by large males, young virgin females that experiencedcourtship by small males were more likely to mate with smalland large males in a test conducted a day after the experiencephase. These results, which are the first clear empirical demonstrationof learning in the context of mate choice by female insects,lay the foundation for research on the role of learning in insectsexual selection and speciation.