James L. Gould, Samuel L. Elliott, Casson M. Masters, Joya Mukerji

The evolution and the adaptive logic (if any) of female mate choice are subjects of lively debate. Whereas most researchers believe that females have evolved to recognize signs of male 'quality' (the ability to provide females or their offspring with direct or indirect genetic or material benefits), there is intriguing evidence that males can evolve to appeal to pre-existing female preferences. Evidence for these pre-existing biases is often ambiguous because phylogenetic reconstructions have usually failed to establish conclusively whether the female preference or the favored male traits evolved first. This potential difficulty is minimal in the mosquitofish genus Gambusia, none of whose 45 species appears to have a female-choice mating system in the wild, and none of which shows the male behavioral and morphological traits that are characteristic of female choice. Nevertheless, in an experimental situation in the laboratory, female Gambusia holbrooki readily chose between models of males and demonstrated significant and reliable preferences for a variety of exaggerated male traits that are not seen in their species or their genus. Other morphological alterations were not preferred. The latent willingness of females to choose traits in a genus without such traits and without evident female choice in the wild is remarkable and may indicate a pre-existing bias in females that is ready to drive male evolution, should the social system or the ecological variables that control it change.