Optimal climbing speed explains the evolution of extreme sexual size dimorphism in spiders

Moya-Laraño, Jordi; Vinković, Dejan; Allard, Cora M.; Foellmer, Matthias W.

doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01707.x

Cited by 51 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Bigger size and/or body condition as an adult infers more food as a juvenile, which provides further evidence that juvenile food limitation negatively affects long distance mate location ability in adult mantids. These results are in stark contrast to those predicted by scramble competition theory [48], which proposes that small males may have an indirect advantage if they mature earlier (and therefore smaller) or a direct advantage if small size means greater agility [34,49,50]. However, it has also been suggested that large size might mean higher survivorship during mate searching over the long distances expected when females are sparsely distributed [34,51-53].…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

You Are What You Eat: Food Limitation Affects Reproductive Fitness in a Sexually Cannibalistic Praying Mantid

Barry

2013

PLoS ONE

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Resource limitation during the juvenile stages frequently results in developmental delays and reduced size at maturity, and dietary restriction during adulthood can affect longevity and reproductive output. Variation in food intake can also result in alteration to the normal pattern of resource allocation among body parts or life-history stages. My primary aim in this study was to determine how varying juvenile and/or adult feeding regimes affect particular female and male traits in the sexually cannibalistic praying mantid Pseudomantis albofimbriata. Praying mantids are sit-and-wait predators whose resource intake can vary dramatically depending on environmental conditions within and across seasons, making them useful for studying the effects of feeding regime on various facets of reproductive fitness. In this study, there was a significant trend/difference in development and morphology for males and females as a result of juvenile feeding treatment, however, its effect on the fitness components measured for males was much greater than on those measured for females. Food-limited males were less likely to find a female during field enclosure experiments and smaller males were slower at finding a female in field-based experiments, providing some of the first empirical evidence of a large male size advantage for scrambling males. Only adult food limitation affected female fecundity, and the ability of a female to chemically attract males was also most notably affected by adult feeding regime (although juvenile food limitation did play a role). Furthermore, the significant difference/trend in all male traits and the lack of difference in male trait ratios between treatments suggests a proportional distribution of resources and, therefore, no trait conservation by food-limited males. This study provides evidence that males and females are under different selective pressures with respect to resource acquisition and is also one of very few to show an effect of juvenile food quantity on adult reproductive fitness in a hemimetabolous insect.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

You Are What You Eat: Food Limitation Affects Reproductive Fitness in a Sexually Cannibalistic Praying Mantid

Barry

2013

PLoS ONE

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“…An important difference between these clades is that in nephilids, size evolution between the sexes runs independently (Kuntner and Coddington 2009;Kuntner and Elgar 2014), whereas in argiopines it is highly positively correlated (Cheng and Kuntner 2014). The correlated evolution of argiopine male and female size implies that female size changes also depend on evolutionary pressures on males (Elgar 1991;Moya-Laraño et al 2009;Vollrath and Parker 1992). However, even if females are restricted in evolutionary size increase, their fecundity may For abbreviations see Table 1 Table plausibly increase via morphological evolution, such as adding additional abdominal volume though shape changes.…”

Section: Species Level Patterns In Argiopinaementioning

confidence: 97%

Disentangling the Size and Shape Components of Sexual Dimorphism

Cheng

Kuntner

2015

Evol Biol

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Many organisms are sexually dimorphic, reflecting sex-specific selection pressures. But although sexual dimorphism may consist of different variables from size to shape and physiology, most research emphasizes a single aspect of sexual dimorphism, notably size, without specifying its components and their relationship. Among terrestrial animals, spiders exhibit most extreme sex-specific differences in size and abdominal shape, and therefore represent ideal models to address this question. Here, we dissect sexual dimorphism in spiders at two phylogenetic hierarchical levels. At the species level, we employ comparative phylogenetic tests to explore the association between sexual shape dimorphism (SShD) and sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in the orbweb clade Argiopinae. At the genus level, we then explore such patterns on a phylogeny of orb weavers (Araneoidea). Female argiopines had more diverse abdominal morphotypes than the males and the abdominal shape evolution was only poorly correlated between the sexes. Phylogenetic and comparative data suggested that evolution of SShD in argiopines was related to geographic history, but that sexually shape monomorphic cases arose through selection for male size, perhaps acting against fecundity selection. While in argiopines there was no clear association between SShD and SSD, we detected a significant correlation in all orb weavers at the genus level. The shape and the size components of sexual dimorphism may thus respond independently to selection pressures, but at certain phylogenetic levels SSD may be a prerequisite for SShD. Research on other animal groups is needed to establish whether the here detected patterns on spiders are general.

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“…In scrambling species, male fertilisation success depends primarily on the ability to detect and locate females (Parker 1978;Thornhill and Alcock 1983), with selection favouring male traits that allow for quick recognition and response to signals and/ or for directed and rapid locomotion. For example, males with longer antennae may be better at detecting and orienting towards signalling females (Hanks et al 1996;Bertin and Cezilly 2003); small males may be faster to reach females if they mature earlier and are more agile than larger males (for review see Andersson 1994;Vencl 2004;Kasumovic and Andrade 2009;Moya-Larano et al 2009); and males with larger legs/wings in relation to their body size may have a greater locomotory ability that allows them to rapidly find females (Carroll and Salamon 1995; and see Berwaerts and Van Dyck 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

A paternity advantage for speedy males? Sperm precedence patterns and female re-mating frequencies in a sexually cannibalistic praying mantid

2010

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Scramble competition polygyny is expected when females and/or resources are widely dispersed and not easily monopolized by males, or when there is an abundance of mates during an extremely restricted reproductive period. Additional factors such as first male sperm precedence or low female re-mating rate might further explain the propensity of males to engage in scramble competition. The sexually cannibalistic praying mantid Pseudomantis albofimbriata exhibits a polygynous mating system, where females exist in low-density populations and male competition manifests as the race to find females rather than as direct physical fighting. Here, we aim to determine whether there is a paternity advantage for the first-male to mate and/or a low frequency of female re-mating. First, we determined sperm precedence patterns in P. albofimbriata using the sterile male technique. Second, we tested the likelihood of female re-mating in P. albofimbriata by comparing the close-range approach behaviour and frequency of successful mating attempts for males when paired with virgin as opposed to recently mated females, and by comparing the frequency of long-distance male attraction between virgin and mated females. We found no paternity advantage for the first male to mate, rather a second male advantage. Although mated females were not rejected by males when approached from close-range, they were chemically unattractive to males searching from a distance. Since initial mate attraction in many praying mantids, including P. albofimbriata, is mediated via long-distance chemical communication, we believe the latter result is more ecologically relevant and therefore more important. These results suggest that the relatively low frequency of female re-mating observed in P. albofimbriata may be an additional factor driving scramble competition in this system.

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Optimal climbing speed explains the evolution of extreme sexual size dimorphism in spiders

Cited by 51 publications

References 67 publications

You Are What You Eat: Food Limitation Affects Reproductive Fitness in a Sexually Cannibalistic Praying Mantid

You Are What You Eat: Food Limitation Affects Reproductive Fitness in a Sexually Cannibalistic Praying Mantid

Disentangling the Size and Shape Components of Sexual Dimorphism

A paternity advantage for speedy males? Sperm precedence patterns and female re-mating frequencies in a sexually cannibalistic praying mantid

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