View article

The evolution and maintenance of female choice based on purely genetic differences is still a controversial issue, not only for theoretical reasons, but also because of the practical difficulty of demonstrating the fitness consequences of preferences and heritability of and genetic variability in the chosen traits. We argue that hybrid systems (broadly defined) offer suitable models for studying mate choice according to genetic differences. We present such a study for European water-frogs of the “hybridogenetic” Rana lessonae/Rana esculenta complex (L/E complex). R. esculenta, originally a hybrid between R. lessonae and R. ridibunda, eliminates the L genome premeiotically and only produces eggs and sperm containing only the R. ridibunda (R) genome. Consequently, the hybrid will only persist when it lives and mates with R. lessonae in mixed populations where it can regain the lost L genome. In such …