Morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus.
Combat traits are thought to have arisen due to intense male-male competition for access to females. While large and elaborate weapons used in attacking other males have often been the focus of sexual selection studies, defensive traits (both morphological and performance) have received less attenti...
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doaj-69b210654bdb4d4b85218af08adaef222020-11-24T20:40:20ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0178e4273810.1371/journal.pone.0042738Morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus.Kyle M BenowitzEdmund D BrodieVincent A FormicaCombat traits are thought to have arisen due to intense male-male competition for access to females. While large and elaborate weapons used in attacking other males have often been the focus of sexual selection studies, defensive traits (both morphological and performance) have received less attention. However, if defensive traits help males restrict access to females, their role in the process of sexual selection could also be important. Here we examine the morphological correlates of grip strength, a defensive combat trait involved in mate guarding, in the tenebrionid beetle Bolitotherus cornutus. We found that grip strength was repeatable and differed between the sexes. However, these differences in performance were largely explained by body size and a non-additive interaction between size and leg length that differed between males and females. Our results suggest that leg size and body size interact as part of an integrated suite of defensive combat traits.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3419742?pdf=render |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Kyle M Benowitz Edmund D Brodie Vincent A Formica |
spellingShingle |
Kyle M Benowitz Edmund D Brodie Vincent A Formica Morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. PLoS ONE |
author_facet |
Kyle M Benowitz Edmund D Brodie Vincent A Formica |
author_sort |
Kyle M Benowitz |
title |
Morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. |
title_short |
Morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. |
title_full |
Morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. |
title_fullStr |
Morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. |
title_sort |
morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, bolitotherus cornutus. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS ONE |
issn |
1932-6203 |
publishDate |
2012-01-01 |
description |
Combat traits are thought to have arisen due to intense male-male competition for access to females. While large and elaborate weapons used in attacking other males have often been the focus of sexual selection studies, defensive traits (both morphological and performance) have received less attention. However, if defensive traits help males restrict access to females, their role in the process of sexual selection could also be important. Here we examine the morphological correlates of grip strength, a defensive combat trait involved in mate guarding, in the tenebrionid beetle Bolitotherus cornutus. We found that grip strength was repeatable and differed between the sexes. However, these differences in performance were largely explained by body size and a non-additive interaction between size and leg length that differed between males and females. Our results suggest that leg size and body size interact as part of an integrated suite of defensive combat traits. |
url |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3419742?pdf=render |
work_keys_str_mv |
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