Matters of scale: positive allometry and the evolution of male dimorphisms
Tomkins, J., Kotiaho, J. S., & LeBas, N. (2005). Matters of scale: positive allometry and the evolution of male dimorphisms. The American Naturalist, 165, 389-402. https://doi.org/10.1086/427732
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The American NaturalistDate
2005Copyright
© 2005 by The University of Chicago.
The developmental independence of alternative phenotypes is key to evolutionary theories of phenotypic plasticity and
the origins of diversity. Male dimorphisms associated with alternative
reproductive tactics are widely cited examples of such facultative
expression of divergent fitness optima. Current models for the evolution of male dimorphisms invoke a size-dependent threshold at
which the phenotype is reprogrammed. We use predictions derived
from allometric modeling to test for the existence of reprogramming
thresholds in two species of beetle, Onthophagus taurus and Onthophagus binodis, and the European earwig Forficula auricularia. We
also compare the allometry of a number of morphological traits to
determine whether minor males suppress their secondary sexual
traits. The intercept of the horn allometry was suppressed, but there
was no evidence of reprogramming of horn growth in either beetle
species. There was reprogramming in the earwig. In the beetles, the
horn length in all males can be explained largely in terms of exponential horn growth following an extraordinarily steep power function. The asymptote in O. taurus can be explained by exponential
growth meeting the constraint of resource exhaustion. These findings
question the currently held view that beetle horn dimorphisms showcase the importance of developmental independence in the evolution
of diversity.
...


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