Variation in the strength of male mate choice allows long-term coexistence of sperm-dependent asexuals and their sexual hosts.

In several asexual taxa, reproduction requires mating with related sexual species to stimulate egg development, even though genetic material is not incorporated from the sexuals (gynogenesis). In cases in which gynogens do not invest in male function, they can potentially have a twofold competitive advantage over sexuals because the asexuals avoid the cost of producing males. If unmitigated, however, the competitive success of the asexuals would ultimately lead to their own demise, following the extinction of the sexual species that stimulate egg development. We have studied a model of mate choice among sexual individuals and asexual gynogens, where males of the sexual species preferentially mate with sexual females over gynogenetic females, to determine if such mating preferences can stably maintain both gynogenetic and sexual individuals within a community. Our model shows that stable coexistence of gynogens and their sexual hosts can occur when there is variation among males in the degree of preference for mating with sexual females and when pickier males pay a higher cost of preference.