Extreme natural size variation in both sexes of a sexually cannibalistic mantidfly.

ABSTRACT: In sexually cannibalistic animals, the relative sizes of potential mates often predict the outcome of aggressive encounters. Mantidflies are spider egg predators as larvae and generalist predators as adults. Unlike most cannibalistic species, there is considerable individual variation in body size in both sexes. Using preserved collections of Dicromantispa sayi, we focused on three body size metrics that we found to be positively correlated and accurately measured across researchers. We found extreme size variation in both sexes: the largest 10% of females were 1.72× larger than the smallest 10%, and the largest 10% of males were 1.65× larger than the smallest 10%. On average, females were 7.94% larger than males. In exploring possible causes of this variation, we uncovered differen

SUBMITTER: Lietzenmayer LB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9382211 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature