The shape of female mating preferences

The ''shape'' of a female mating preference is the relationship between a male trait and the probability of acceptance as a mating partner, The shape of preferences is important in many models of sexual selection, mate recognition, communication, and speciation, yet it has rarely been measured precisely, Here I examine preference shape for male calling song in a bushcricket (katydid). Preferences change dramatically between races of a species, from strongly directional to broadly stabilizing (but with a net directional effect), Preference shape generally matches the distribution of the male trait, This is compatible with a coevolutionary model of signal-preference evolution, although it does nor rule out an alternative model, sensory exploitation. Preference shapes are shown to be genetic in origin.