Allometry of a sexual trait in relation to diet experience and alternative mating tactics in two rubyspot damselflies (Calopterygidae: Hetaerina) |
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Authors: | Hugo A Álvarez Martín Alejandro Serrano‐Meneses Isidora Reyes‐Márquez Jesús Guillermo Jiménez‐Cortés Alex Córdoba‐Aguilar |
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Institution: | 1. Laboratorio de Ecología de Poblaciones, Escuela de Biología, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, , CP 72570 Puebla, México;2. Laboratorio de Biología Evolutiva, Centro Tlaxcala de Biología de la Conducta, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, , 90062 Tlaxcala, México;3. Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, , 04510 México DF, México |
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Abstract: | Several arguments have been put forward to explain how sexual selection drives the evolution of sexual trait allometry, especially hyperallometry. The ‘positive allometry theory’ suggests that hyperallometry is a rule in all‐secondary sexual traits, whereas the ‘display hypothesis’ suggests that only males in good condition will exhibit hyperallometric sexual display traits. In the present study, we investigated: (1) the condition‐dependence nature (by using two diet treatments that varied in the amount of food provided to the larvae) of a sexually selected trait (wing pigmentation; WP) in recently‐emerged adults of the American rubyspot damselfly, Hetaerina americana, and (2) the scaling relationship between WP and body size (wing and body length) in the rubyspot damselflies H. americana and Hetaerina vulnerata, according to alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs; territorial and nonterritorial males). First, we found support that indicated that diet positively affected WP length, although there was no significant WP allometric pattern in relation to diet regimes. Second, WP was hyperallometric in both Hetaerina species. WP size was similar between ARTs and, in H. americana (but not H. vulnerata), nonterritorial males showed steeper slopes than territorial males when wing length was used. The results obtained support the notion that sexual traits are hyperallometric, although there is no clear pattern in relation to ARTs. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London |
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Keywords: | reproductive tactics hyperallometry secondary sexual traits sexual selection display hypothesis |
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