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An illustration for how intersexual co-evolution could lead to heterogeneous and incompatible evolution in isolated populations. Genes involved in male reproduction also serve important functions in females via either synergistic or antagonistic interaction with female reproduction-associated genes. Multiple epistatic modules with different genes involved (red and blue colors) may co-exist in the ancestral population. A cascade of intersexual co-evolution for a certain group of genes is expected if selection pressure is imposed on either sex. As such co-evolutionary cascades (modules) are not unique, but redundant, replicate populations may evolve for high divergence and the alternative co-evolutionary paths may not be fully compatible with each other, resulting in fitness costs for between-replicate crosses

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