Table 4.1 List of studies examining female mate choice in rodents. Studies are categorized by traits and for each study, the female preference, if any, for particular
males and the method(s) used to measure mate choice are summarized
Species Choice Measure used Reference
Mating status of male
Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) Unmated mated Odor preference Krames and Mastromatteo 1973
Golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) Unmated recently mated Social preference and lordosis Huck et al. 1986
Prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) Unmated mated Social and mating preference Pierce and Dewsbury 1991
Meadow vole (M. pennsylvanicus) No preference: unmated mated Social and mating preference Salo and Dewsbury 1995
Montane vole (M. montanus) No preference: unmated mated Social and mating preference Pierce and Dewsbury 1991
Brandt’s vole (M. brandtii) No preference Social preference and behavior Yin and Fang-Ji 1998
Familiarity
Mandarin vole (M. mandarinus) Familiar unfamiliar Social preference and behavior Zhao et al. 2002
Brown lemming (Lemmus trimucronatus) Familiar unfamiliar Mating behavior Coopersmith and Banks 1983
Giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens) Less aggression and more amicable Behavior in lab and field Randall et al. 2002
toward familiar than unfamiliar
Genetic compatibility —Relatedness
House mice —Porton strain Same strain different strain Odor preference Gilder and Slater 1978
brother control (clean bedding)
House mice —ICR-JCL strain No preference sibling /non-sibling Social preference Hayashi and Kimura 1983
House mice — CFLP strain No preference sibling, half-sibling, Odor choice, social preference Barnard and Fitzsimons 1988
cousin, or unrelated
House mice — lab strain No preference sister, cousin, or Odor choice Krackow and Matuschak 1991
unrelated
Wild house mice (Mus musculus) Non siblings familiar and Social preference Winn and Vestal 1986
unfamiliar brothers
Wild house mice (M. musculus) Non-siblings siblings Social preference Dewsbury 1988
Deermice (Peromyscus maniculatus) Familiar siblings non-siblings Odor preference and behavior Dewsbury 1990
White-footed mice (P. leucopus) Cousins siblings or unrelated Odor preference and behavior Keane 1990b
Common vole (Microtus arvalis) Non-siblings siblings Odor preference Bolhuis et al. 1988
Mandarin vole (M. mandarinus) Unfamiliar familiar individuals Social preference and behavior Fadao et al. 2000
Brandt’s vole (M. brandti) Social: brothers unrelated Social and mating preference Yu et al. 2004
Mating: unrelated brothers
Naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) Odor: no preference Odor and social preference Clarke and Faulkes 1999
Social: estrus females: unfamiliar
familiar
Social: reproductively inactive:
no preference
Genetic compatibility —Intra-genomic
conflict and self-promoting elements
Wild house mice (Mus musculus) Opposite haplotype similar Social preferences Coopersmith and Lenington 1990
t-haplotype
Wild house mice (M. musculus) Opposite haplotype similar Social preferences Lenington 1991; Lenington et al.
t-haplotype 1994
Genetic compatibility —Immune system
House mice — lab strain Different MHC type than own Odor and mating preference Egid and Brown 1989
House mice — congenic strains Different MHC type than own Odor and mating preference Arcaro and Eklund 1998
House mice — congenic strain No preference Odor preference Ehman and Scott 2001
House mice — congenic strain Preference for same strain regardless Mating preference Beauchamp et al. 1988
of own haplotype
House mice — outbred Different MHC type than own Matings in semi-natural Potts et al. 1991
enclosures
Wild house mice (Mus musculus) No preference Odor and mating preference Eklund 1997, 1999
Good genes —Resistance to infection
House mice — lab strain Non-parasitized parasitized Odor preference Kavaliers and Colwell 1995b
House mice — congenic strains Non-parasitized parasitized Odor preference Ehman and Scott 2001
Small N; 5 females /strain
House mice (Mus musculus) Disease free diseased Odor preference Penn et al. 1998
Wild house mice (M. musculus) Non-parasitized parasitized Odor preference Mihalcin 2002
Norway rat — lab strain (Rattus norvegicus) Non-parasitized parasitized Odor preference Willis and Poulin 2000
(P 0.059)
No control for estrus state