morphological correlates of a combat performance trait in the forked fungus beetle, bolitotherus cornutus形态相关作战性能特征的叉状的真菌甲虫,bolitotherus cornutus.pdfVIP

Morphological Correlates of a Combat Performance Trait in the Forked Fungus Beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus 1 1 2 Kyle M. Benowitz , Edmund D. Brodie III , Vincent A. Formica * 1 Mountain Lake Biological Station, Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America, 2 Department of Biology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States of America Abstract 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. Citation: Benowitz KM, Brodie ED III, Formica VA (2012) Morphological Correlates of a Combat Performance Trait in the Forked Fungus Beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus. PLoS ONE 7(8): e42738. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042738 Editor: Stephen R. Proulx, University of California Santa Barbara, United States of America Rec