New paper showing cryptic male mate choice can have costs to males!

Our new paper, authored by former lab technician Olivia Anastasio and lab alum Chelsea Sinclair ('21), has been published in Evolution. Males of many species, including fruit flies, invest more reproductive resources when they mate with high-quality females, a process known as "cryptic male mate choice". In this paper, we show that this increased male investment in high-quality females reduces their paternity success in their future matings! This cost can limits male reproductive potential over their lifetime. Also see Barnard's news piece on our paper!