Selection for predation, not female fecundity, explains sexual size dimorphism in the orchid mantises.

ABSTRACT: Here we reconstruct the evolutionary shift towards floral simulation in orchid mantises and suggest female predatory selection as the likely driving force behind the development of extreme sexual size dimorphism. Through analysis of body size data and phylogenetic modelling of trait evolution, we recovered an ancestral shift towards sexual dimorphisms in both size and appearance in a lineage of flower-associated praying mantises. Sedentary female flower mantises dramatically increased in size prior to a transition from camouflaged, ambush predation to a floral simulation strategy, gaining access to, and visually attracting, a novel resource: large pollinating insects. Male flower mantises, however, remained small and mobile to facilitate mate-finding and reproductive success, consistent wi

SUBMITTER: Svenson GJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5131372 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature