The association between wing morphology and dispersal is sex-specific in the glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae)
(2007) European Journal of Entomology — Vol. 104, n° 3, p. 445-452 (2007)
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- Abstract
- We examined whether dispersal was associated with body and wing morphology and individual quality, and whether such an association was sex-specific, in the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia (L.) in Paldiski on the north coast of Estonia. Body weight, size and shape of both fore- and hindwing, wing aspect ratio and wing loading were used as measures of body and wing morphology. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of wing shape was used as a measure of individual quality. Males and females did not differ in dispersal rates, despite large differences in overall morphology and FA. Females had a significantly higher wing loading and aspect ratio, but a lower FA than males. Females, but not males, that dispersed differed in forewing shape from those that did not disperse. The sex-specifity of the covariation between dispersal and forewing shape is most probably due to wing shape being associated with different life-history traits in both sexes, resulting in different selection pressures on wing shape in each of the sexes.
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Breuker, C. J., Brakefield, P. M., & Gibbs, M. (2007). The association between wing morphology and dispersal is sex-specific in the glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae). European Journal of Entomology, 104(3), 445-452. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2007.064 (Original work published 2007)