DOI: 10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jmc
title: Data from: Mate copying in Drosophila simulans

description: To facilitate the search for a suitable mating partner, many animals
 across all taxa use social information. One form of social learning is
 mate copying, in which individuals use information about potential mates
 by copying the mate choices of other individuals. While many studies have
 documented mate copying in Drosophila melanogaster and its potential for
 cultural evolution in the laboratory, little is known about mate copying
 in other Drosophila species. Here we report the first evidence that
 Drosophila simulans females can also acquire a sexual preference for a
 particular trait of a male after observing a single mating event. We used
 the same protocol developed for D. melanogaster: A naïve, unmated female
 first observes a conspecific's mate choice between one artificially
 colored green and one artificially colored pink male, and is subsequently
 allowed to choose between two males of the same phenotype herself. Just as
 with D. melanogaster, D. simulans females were more likely to choose the
 same type of male as in the demonstration. Thus, D. simulans females are
 capable of rapid social observational learning, and this highlights the
 potential importance of mate copying, a trait that may contribute to
 reproductive isolation.
description: # Mate copying in Drosophila simulans Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jmc](10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jmc) ## Description of the
 data and file structure We conducted behavioural observations of the mate
 choice decisions of *Drosophila simulans* females from three different
 populations to test whether they copy the mate choice of their
 conspecifics. ### Files and variables #### File: Data\_Dsim.xlsx
 **Description:**  ##### Variables | Variable | Explanation | Level | |
 :----------- | :--------------------------------------------------- |
 :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Experimentor | Who did the experiment | SN (Sabine Nöbel)/TK (Tim Kaufmann) | | Date | Date of the experiment | | | TimeDemo | Beginning of the experiment | | | Chamber | Position in the box | A, B, C, D, E, F | | Device | Number of the set-up | | | Strain | Fly population | H (Haale (Saale)), S (Maison Salasar), D (Deyme) | | Treatment | Treatments | MC (mate copying = informed), C (control = uninformed) | | Temp | Temperature \[°C] in the room | | | Humidity | Humidity \[%] in the room | | | ColourDemo | Colour of the male copulating in the demonstration | G (green), P (pink), NA (no copulation) | | Colour1Court | Colour of the male that started the first courtship | G (green), P (pink), NA (no courtship) | | Colour2Court | Colour of the male that started the second courtship | G (green), P (pink), NA (no courtship) | | ColourTest | Colour of the male copulating in the test | G (green), P (pink), NA (no copulation) | | MCS | Mate-copying score | 0 (observer female chose a different coloured male than the demonstrator), 1 (observer female chose the same coloured male as the demonstrator) | ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * N/A Data was derived from the following sources: * N/A