Summary: Dukas & Jongsma (2012)

Female mate choice is common in the animal kingdom and females and males may come into conflict over a female's choosiness. In particular, males that are chosen less frequently by females may resort to forceful copulations in order to gain some reproductive fitness. In fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster, males may force-copulate with sexually immature females just after eclosion, a particularly vulnerable time for females. Although males only achieve approximately 20% of successful matings this way, the results for females are significant. Females suffer reduced longevity, high wing damage and show lowered reproductive success (through generation of fewer progeny, which they can still produce). Although females are capable of remating at sexual maturity after a forced copulation, mating is generally followed by a period of diminished receptivity and attractiveness, meaning that females may not be able to mate until a later time. Dukas & Jongsma (2012) quantified the effects of forced vs. consensual matings on the receptivity and attractiveness of females, to determine whether forcibly mated females are able to overcome the effects of mating by showing faster return to receptivity and attractiveness. Although forcibly mated females appeared as attractive as same-age virgins, and were more attractive than recently consensually mated females, Dukas & Jongsma (2012) found that they remated at a lower frequency than same-age virgins, but a higher frequency than recently mated females. In the case of fruit flies, it seems that males benefit through forced copulations by gaining some fitness benefits through generation of progeny. Although damaging to females, females are able to overcome this negative behaviour, and can gain matings later through return to attractiveness and receptivity (even if only partially).