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Darwin’s finches choose parent lookalikes as mates

A preference for mating with similar individuals can have a key role in speciation. Research on Darwin’s finches suggests that individuals might use the likeness of their parents as a guide for choosing mates.
  1. Lewis G. Spurgin

    1. Lewis G. Spurgin is in the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.

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  2. Tracey Chapman

    1. Tracey Chapman is in the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.

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New species form when groups of individuals in a population become reproductively isolated and can no longer mate with each other to produce living, healthy offspring. For decades, evolutionary biologists have sought to understand the links between an individual’s choice of mate and reproductive isolation between populations and species1. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Grant and Grant2 provide evidence suggesting that two species of Darwin’s finch learn features of their parents early in life and use this knowledge to inform their choice of mate in adulthood, a process known as sexual imprinting. Their study raises fascinating questions about the roles of learning and genetics in mate choice, and how matings between similar individuals (assortative mating) drive the evolution of new species.

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Nature 564, 196-197 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07494-8

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