Mating behaviour and thermal plasticity of adult morphology in a sexually dimorphic fly
(2018)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Hance, Thierry
- Abstract
- Antennal sexual dimorphism is common in insects and antennae of males are often more complex than those of females, due to sexual selection. In Aphidoletes aphidimyza, males have long plumose antennae while females have short antennae. However, the driving factors of this antennal sexual dimorphism are unknown. The hypothesis is that sexual dimorphism in A. aphidimyza mainly results from sexual selection, as longer and more symmetric antennae should improve access of males to a mate. Moreover, the size of wings should vary as antennae size and larger structures should be observed in larger males (isometry). First, the morphology of males of A. aphidimyza and its influence on the reproductive behaviour were studied. There are positive linear relations between antennae, wing and tibia sizes (the size of the tibia being used as a proxy of the body size) in males of A. aphidimyza. Moreover, males with long antennae relatively to their body size have a higher probability to access a mate than others. Secondly, the effects of developmental temperature on the morphology and on the reproductive behaviour of males of A. aphidimyza were investigated. Males that developed at lower temperature are larger, with larger antennae and wings, than males that developed at higher temperature. The antennae size presents a negative allometry while wing size presents a positive allometry according to the body size. However, these morphology differences do not seem to impact the mating success of males. In short, longer and more symmetric antennae do not improve the access of males to a mate, but a high antenna to tibia ratio does, which gives a partial answer to this questioning about factors that may cause and maintain sexual dimorphism in A. aphidimyza.
- Affiliations
Citations
Nicolas, A. (2018). Mating behaviour and thermal plasticity of adult morphology in a sexually dimorphic fly. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/127428