Age Based female mate preference in phorticella striata

Sexual selection often involves female preference for males of certain age, and a body of theoretical information predicts preference for old males in species in which mating is resource independent and both parents do not show parental care. Phorticella striata is one such species in which mating is resource independent and both parents do not show parental care. Outbred population of P. striata has been used to understand age based female mate preference. It was noticed that in P. striata females of all age preferred older males more frequently than young or middle aged males. Older males showed significantly greater courtship acts, mated faster and copulated longer than young or middle aged males. Females mated with old males laid significantly greater number of eggs and progeny than females mated with either young or middle aged males. Further, female mated with older males lived significantly for a shorter time than when she mated with either young or middle aged males. Thus these studies confirmed that female evolved towards older male in species in which mating is resource independent and both parents do not show parental care.