Body Size and Differential Mating Success between Males of Two Populations of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly

Abstract

Mate preference experiments were conducted between males from two populations of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, to investigate the effect of body size on mating success. The results of the experiment indicate that increased body size of males cannot be equated with mating success. In the lek behavior phase, physical encounters between males for possession of a preferred territory seem to favor a male with a larger body size. However, males from one of the populations were twice as successful in mating with females of either population than males from the other population despite their significantly smaller body size. Thus, it appears that while size may possibly be correlated with intrasexual selection and the establishment of a dominance hierarchy within the lek, courtship performance is still the most important criterion for mating success in the medfly.