Male mandible trimorphism in the stag beetle Dorcus rectus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)

Iguchi, Yutaka

doi:10.14411/eje.2013.022

Cited by 24 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Box 1). In accordance with other studies on stag beetles (Rowland and Emlen 2009, Iguchi 2013, Romiti et al 2016, the most variable trait is mandible length, both within and amongst populations. It is indeed well known that SSC express a huge phenotypic plasticity in both size and shape (Andersson 1982, Fitzpatrick 1997, Cuervo and Møller 2001.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Latitudinal cline in weapon allometry and phenology of the European stag beetle

Romiti¹,

Zan²,

Gasperis³

et al. 2017

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Animal body size commonly exhibits a remarkable variation in response to environmental conditions. Latitude, when correlated with temperature, rainfall and seasonality, represents one of the main determinants of variation in body size, as well as in allometry. It has long been recognised that populations of larger body size are found in colder environments (Bergmann's Rule), a cornerstone of evolutionary ecology. However, the way in which latitude might influence investment in exaggerated weapons of animals has received little attention. The European stag beetle Lucanus cervus (Linnaeus, 1758) is the focus of this study. Males of this species exhibit exaggerated mandibles, mainly used as weapons during intra-sexual conflicts. Five populations ranging from northern Italy to the southern limit of the distribution of L. cervus were analysed. Combining morphological and phenological data, latitudinal variation in body size, weapon investment and activity period of the adults were evaluated. The analysis of the allometry of mandibles strongly supported the presence of two male morphs. Large males (major morph) invest significantly more in weapons compared to males of the minor morph. Consistent with Bergmann's Rule, these results confirmed that

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Latitudinal cline in weapon allometry and phenology of the European stag beetle

Romiti¹,

Zan²,

Gasperis³

et al. 2017

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“…Rowland and Emlen 15 , however, described apparent condition-dependent trimorphism from several species of the scarab genus Phanaeus , from the lucanid Odontolabis cuvera and from the weevil Parisoschoenus expositus , with two body size thresholds determining which morph a male devleops into. More recent work has found similar trimorphisms in the lucanid Dorcus rectus 16 , the weta Hemideina crassidens 17 and the harvestman Pantopsalis cheliferoides 18 . In the latter case the harvestmen develop into a morph with small chelicerae below an apparent body size threshold, but above this threshold they can develop into one of two different morphs with different weapon morphologies, with morph being unrelated to body size.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Diverse and complex male polymorphisms in Odontolabis stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)

Matsumoto

Knell

2017

Sci Rep

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When male animals engage in intrasexual contests then any alternative tactics they use can be associated with dimorphisms in the expression of weapons. Some species have recently been found to exhibit trimorphism in their weaponry, suggesting that the processes leading to their evolution and maintenance of these polymorphisms can be more complex than previously thought. Here, we describe the extraordinary diversity of polymorphism within the genus Odontolabis: there are dimorphic species (O. siva and O. platynota), trimorphic species (O. cuvera, as previously described, and O. sommeri s.stricto) and, uniquely, tetramorphic species, with males of O. sommeri lowei and O. brookeana showing four clearly differentiated male morphs: small “Gammas”, “Alphas” which express large, long mandibles, “Betas” which have long mandibles with different morphology and “Boltcutters”, with short, wide mandibles. Such polymorphisms are usually thought of as being maintained as a status-dependent conditional strategy, but we found only one size threshold: in most cases males develop into Gamma males below a certain size but there is no relationship between morph and body size amongst the larger, ‘weaponised’ morphs. We suggest that the complex polymorphisms in these animals are probably maintained by a combination of a conditional strategy and a genetic polymorphism.

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“…Previous studies on other stag beetle species highlighted the existence of: allometry with continuous variation, dimorphism, and trimorphism. Kawano (2000) analyzed intraspecific allometry in 45 species of three representative genera of stag beetles (Cyclommatus, Neolucanus, and Odontolabis); trimorphism was described by Iguchi (2013) in Dorcus rectus and by Rowland and Emlen (2009) in Odontolabis cuvera. Recently, allometry of male mandibles of stag beetles was analyzed using specimens from museum collection (Knell et al, 2004;Knell, 2009) or body fragments (Hardersen et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exaggerated allometric structures in relation to demographic and ecological parameters inLucanus cervus(Coleoptera: Lucanidae)

Romiti

Tini

Zan

et al. 2015

Journal of Morphology

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Enlarged weapons and ornamental traits under sexual selection often show a positive allometric relationship with the overall body size. The present study explores the allometry of mandibles and their supporting structure, the head, in males of the European stag beetle, Lucanus cervus. This species shows a remarkable dimorphism in mandible shape and size that are used by males in intraspecific combats. Stag beetles were captured, measured, weighed, and released in the framework of a capture-mark-recapture study. The relationship of mandible length (ML) and head width in respect to the overall body size was described by a segmented regression model. A linear relationship was detected between ML and head width. The scaling relationships for both ML and head width identified the same switchpoint, highlighting the advantages of using combined results of weapons and their supporting structures in such analysis. These results led to a more consistent distinction of males in two morphologies: minor and major. The survival probability of individuals was dependent on the morphological class and was higher for minor males than for major. Elytron length and body mass of the individuals did not show any significant variation during the season. Differences in predatory pressure were detected between morphs by the collection and analysis of body fragments due to the predatory activity of corvids. Morphological differences and shift in demographic and ecological parameters between the two classes suggested that selection continues to favor intrasexual dimorphism in this species throughout a trade-off mechanism between costs and benefits of carrying exaggerated traits.

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Male mandible trimorphism in the stag beetle Dorcus rectus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)

Cited by 24 publications

References 39 publications

Latitudinal cline in weapon allometry and phenology of the European stag beetle

Latitudinal cline in weapon allometry and phenology of the European stag beetle

Diverse and complex male polymorphisms in Odontolabis stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)

Exaggerated allometric structures in relation to demographic and ecological parameters inLucanus cervus(Coleoptera: Lucanidae)

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