Abstract
1. Males in many animal species exercise mate choice to maximise their reproductive success, assessing females by characteristics related to reproductive potential, such as mating status, body size, and age. The sensory modalities involved in mate choice are often not firmly demonstrated, but only inferred. This is especially true for chemical cues and signals.
2. The present study tests whether males of the cricket Acheta domesticus are able to choose among females based only on chemosensory cues. In A. domesticus, as in many crickets, males call to attract females or roam the habitat silently to search for females. In three-way choice trials, males were presented with two filter papers that had been placed with females for 24 h prior to the trials and one blank control. Females were either mated or virgin and starved or well-fed. It was predicted that males would prefer virgin over mated females and those in good condition over starved ones.
3. Males were more likely to contact filters that had been exposed to females. They spent more time examining filter papers from virgin females than those from mated ones, while the condition of the females had no effect.
4. We conclude that males can detect chemical cues from females on substrate and distinguish virgin females from mated ones. Being able to assess sperm competition risk prior to mating or even before further pursuing a trail with chemical cues should confer a considerable benefit to males.