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Burke NW. Sexual cannibalism as a female resistance trait: a new hypothesis. Evolution 2024; 78:612-623. [PMID: 38280203 DOI: 10.1093/evolut/qpae017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 01/29/2024]
Abstract
Female spiders and praying mantises are renowned for their cannibalism of male partners before, during, or after mating. While several hypotheses have been proposed to explain species-specific examples of sexual cannibalism, much variation remains unexplained, including why the timing of cannibalism varies across taxa. Here, I outline how sexually cannibalistic behavior could evolve via sexually antagonistic selection as a type of behavioral resistance to male-imposed mating costs, and how such a generalizable interpretation provides a framework for understanding the evolution of both sexual cannibalism in females and anti-cannibalistic traits in males. I discuss how differences between mating systems that physiologically constrain males to mate only once (monogyny) or twice (bigyny) and systems where the sexes can potentially mate multiply (polygyny and polyandry) are likely to influence how sexual conflict shapes cannibalistic behavior. I review key examples from the literature that suggest how sexually cannibalistic behavior might function as a female resistance trait and provide comprehensive predictions for testing this hypothesis empirically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan W Burke
- Department of Biology, Institute of Cell and Systems Biology of Animals, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
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2
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Yu KP, Kuntner M. Discovering unknown Madagascar biodiversity: integrative taxonomy of raft spiders (Pisauridae: Dolomedes). PeerJ 2024; 12:e16781. [PMID: 38435991 PMCID: PMC10906265 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Madagascar is a global biodiversity hotspot, but its biodiversity continues to be underestimated and understudied. Of raft spiders, genus Dolomedes Latreille, 1804, literature only reports two species on Madagascar. Our single expedition to humid forests of eastern and northern Madagascar, however, yielded a series of Dolomedes exemplars representing both sexes of five morphospecies. To avoid only using morphological diagnostics, we devised and tested an integrative taxonomic model for Dolomedes based on the unified species concept. The model first determines morphospecies within a morphometrics framework, then tests their validity via species delimitation using COI. It then incorporates habitat preferences, geological barriers, and dispersal related traits to form hypotheses about gene flow limitations. Our results reveal four new Dolomedes species that we describe from both sexes as Dolomedes gregoric sp. nov., D. bedjanic sp. nov., D. hydatostella sp. nov., and D. rotundus sp. nov. The range of D. kalanoro Silva & Griswold, 2013, now also known from both sexes, is expanded to eastern Madagascar. By increasing the known raft spider diversity from one valid species to five, our results merely scratch the surface of the true Dolomedes species diversity on Madagascar. Our integrative taxonomic model provides the framework for future revisions of raft spiders anywhere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kuang-Ping Yu
- Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Matjaž Kuntner
- Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., United States of America
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, and Centre for Behavioural Ecology and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
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3
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Liu ZD, Wickham JD, Sun JH. Fighting and aggressive sound determines larger male to win male-male competition in a bark beetle. INSECT SCIENCE 2021; 28:203-214. [PMID: 31944573 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.12748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2019] [Revised: 11/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Intrasexual selection occurs in male-male competition over access to females and usually results in the larger male winning. While much research has documented that size matters, little is known about how the larger male wins. Dendroctonus valens is an aggregating monogamous bark beetle in which males have large variation in body size and display intense competition over females. Behavioral observation showed two males fight each other within the gallery by pushing/shoving and stridulated more when two males encountered each other. Experiments using two different-sized males synchronously competing showed that larger males won 95% of contests. Reciprocal displacement experiments using muted and intact males of different or equal size were used to simulate male-male competition. Larger males displaced the smaller resident male in 90% of contests, while smaller males prevailed over larger residents in 6.7% of contests. With both males silenced, larger males displaced smaller males in 80% of contests, while smaller males prevailed in 8% of contests. Further experiments using equal-sized males showed aggressive sound-emitting males displaced muted males in 67% of contests, yet intact males displaced other intact males in only 37.5% of contests. Sound analysis showed sound pressure level is an honest signal of body size and males chose soft sounds over loud aggressive sounds in assays. Therefore, D. valens males have evolved dual behaviors, fighting and aggressive sounds associated with body size, to assess rivals to compete for a partner, gaining insights in male-male competition for this species and for other animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhu-Dong Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
| | - Jacob D Wickham
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
| | - Jiang-Hua Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
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4
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Byers KA, Proctor HC. Morphology of genitalia and non-genitalic contact structures inTrouessartiafeather mites (Astigmata: Analgoidea: Trouessartiidae): is there evidence of correlated evolution between the sexes? CAN J ZOOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1139/cjz-2019-0291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Positive correlations between the shapes of male and female sexual structures can be interpreted as cooperative or as combative. In the feather mite genus Trouessartia Canestrini, 1899, the spermaducts of females range from entirely internal to extending externally for varying lengths, whereas male primary genitalia range from gracile to massive. Males also possess a pair of adanal suckers used to hold onto the dorsal surface of the female during copulation. In the area of this attachment, females exhibit ornamentation and have strongly developed dorsal setae (setae h1), which we hypothesized serve to weaken the male’s hold during copulation. In male and female Trouessartia from 51 bird species, we compared female external spermaduct length and male genitalic “massiveness” and explored whether patterns of female dorsal ornamentation and (or) h1 seta size correlate with male adanal sucker size. Our results indicate that females with longer external spermaducts are associated with males with relatively massive genitalia. However, we found no significant relationship between male adanal sucker size and female ornamentation or h1 seta size. Further information regarding how the genitalia interact during sperm transfer is necessary to interpret correlations in genitalia size and strong intersexual differences in dorsal ornamentation and seta size in Trouessartia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaylee A. Byers
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
| | - Heather C. Proctor
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
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5
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House C, Tunstall P, Rapkin J, Bale MJ, Gage M, Del Castillo E, Hunt J. Multivariate stabilizing sexual selection and the evolution of male and female genital morphology in the red flour beetle. Evolution 2020; 74:883-896. [PMID: 31889313 PMCID: PMC7317928 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2018] [Revised: 12/11/2019] [Accepted: 12/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Male genitals are highly divergent in animals with internal fertilization. Most studies attempting to explain this diversity have focused on testing the major hypotheses of genital evolution (the lock‐and‐key, pleiotropy, and sexual selection hypotheses), and quantifying the form of selection targeting male genitals has played an important role in this endeavor. However, we currently know far less about selection targeting female genitals or how male and female genitals interact during mating. Here, we use formal selection analysis to show that genital size and shape is subject to strong multivariate stabilizing sexual selection in both sexes of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Moreover, we show significant sexual selection on the covariance between the sexes for specific aspects of genital shape suggesting that male and female genitalia also interact to determine the successful transfer of a spermatophore during mating. Our work therefore highlights the important role that both male and female genital morphologies play in determining mating success and that these effects can occur independently, as well as through their interaction. Moreover, it cautions against the overly simplistic view that the sexual selection targeting genital morphology will always be directional in form and restricted primarily to males.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clarissa House
- School of Science and Health and Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Richmond, NSW, 2753, Australia
| | - Philip Tunstall
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, United Kingdom
| | - James Rapkin
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, United Kingdom
| | - Mathilda J Bale
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew Gage
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom
| | - Enrique Del Castillo
- Department of Industrial Engineering and Department of Statistics, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, 16802
| | - John Hunt
- School of Science and Health and Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Richmond, NSW, 2753, Australia.,Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, United Kingdom
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Kuntner M, Coddington JA. Sexual Size Dimorphism: Evolution and Perils of Extreme Phenotypes in Spiders. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY 2020; 65:57-80. [PMID: 31573828 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-011019-025032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Sexual size dimorphism is one of the most striking animal traits, and among terrestrial animals, it is most extreme in certain spider lineages. The most extreme sexual size dimorphism (eSSD) is female biased. eSSD itself is probably an epiphenomenon of gendered evolutionary drivers whose strengths and directions are diverse. We demonstrate that eSSD spider clades are aberrant by sampling randomly across all spiders to establish overall averages for female (6.9 mm) and male (5.6 mm) size. At least 16 spider eSSD clades exist. We explore why the literature does not converge on an overall explanation for eSSD and propose an equilibrium model featuring clade- and context-specific drivers of gender size variation. eSSD affects other traits such as sexual cannibalism, genital damage, emasculation, and monogyny with terminal investment. Coevolution with these extreme sexual phenotypes is termed eSSD mating syndrome. Finally, as costs of female gigantism increase with size, eSSD may represent an evolutionary dead end.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matjaž Kuntner
- Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory, Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia;
- Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0105, USA;
- Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory, Institute of Biology ZRC SAZU, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Jonathan A Coddington
- Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0105, USA;
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Kuntner M, Hamilton CA, Cheng RC, Gregorič M, Lupše N, Lokovšek T, Lemmon EM, Lemmon AR, Agnarsson I, Coddington JA, Bond JE. Golden Orbweavers Ignore Biological Rules: Phylogenomic and Comparative Analyses Unravel a Complex Evolution of Sexual Size Dimorphism. Syst Biol 2019; 68:555-572. [PMID: 30517732 PMCID: PMC6568015 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syy082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2018] [Revised: 11/20/2018] [Accepted: 11/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Instances of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) provide the context for rigorous tests of biological rules of size evolution, such as Cope's rule (phyletic size increase), Rensch's rule (allometric patterns of male and female size), as well as male and female body size optima. In certain spider groups, such as the golden orbweavers (Nephilidae), extreme female-biased SSD (eSSD, female:male body length $\ge$2) is the norm. Nephilid genera construct webs of exaggerated proportions, which can be aerial, arboricolous, or intermediate (hybrid). First, we established the backbone phylogeny of Nephilidae using 367 anchored hybrid enrichment markers, then combined these data with classical markers for a reference species-level phylogeny. Second, we used the phylogeny to test Cope and Rensch's rules, sex specific size optima, and the coevolution of web size, type, and features with female and male body size and their ratio, SSD. Male, but not female, size increases significantly over time, and refutes Cope's rule. Allometric analyses reject the converse, Rensch's rule. Male and female body sizes are uncorrelated. Female size evolution is random, but males evolve toward an optimum size (3.2-4.9 mm). Overall, female body size correlates positively with absolute web size. However, intermediate sized females build the largest webs (of the hybrid type), giant female Nephila and Trichonephila build smaller webs (of the aerial type), and the smallest females build the smallest webs (of the arboricolous type). We propose taxonomic changes based on the criteria of clade age, monophyly and exclusivity, classification information content, and diagnosability. Spider families, as currently defined, tend to be between 37 million years old and 98 million years old, and Nephilidae is estimated at 133 Ma (97-146), thus deserving family status. We, therefore, resurrect the family Nephilidae Simon 1894 that contains Clitaetra Simon 1889, the Cretaceous GeratonephilaPoinar and Buckley (2012), Herennia Thorell 1877, IndoetraKuntner 2006, new rank, Nephila Leach 1815, Nephilengys L. Koch 1872, Nephilingis Kuntner 2013, Palaeonephila Wunderlich 2004 from Tertiary Baltic amber, and TrichonephilaDahl 1911, new rank. We propose the new clade Orbipurae to contain Araneidae Clerck 1757, Phonognathidae Simon 1894, new rank, and Nephilidae. Nephilid female gigantism is a phylogenetically ancient phenotype (over 100 Ma), as is eSSD, though their magnitudes vary by lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matjaž Kuntner
- Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory, Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory, Biological Institute ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 2, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution, NW, Washington, DC 20560-0105, USA
- Centre for Behavioural Ecology and Evolution, College of Life Sciences, Hubei University, 368 Youyi Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430062, China
| | - Chris A Hamilton
- Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology, & Nematology, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Dr. MS 2329, Moscow, ID 83844-2329, USA
| | - Ren-Chung Cheng
- Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory, Biological Institute ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 2, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, No.145 Xingda Rd., South Dist., Taichung City 402, Taiwan
| | - Matjaž Gregorič
- Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory, Biological Institute ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 2, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Nik Lupše
- Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory, Biological Institute ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 2, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Division of Animal Evolutionary Biology, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 44 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tjaša Lokovšek
- Evolutionary Zoology Laboratory, Biological Institute ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 2, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Emily Moriarty Lemmon
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, 319 Stadium Dr., Tallahassee, FL 32306-4295, USA
| | - Alan R Lemmon
- Department of Scientific Computing, Florida State University, 400 Dirac Science Library, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4120, USA
| | - Ingi Agnarsson
- Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution, NW, Washington, DC 20560-0105, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, 316 Marsh Life Science Building, 109 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, VT 05405-0086, USA
| | - Jonathan A Coddington
- Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution, NW, Washington, DC 20560-0105, USA
| | - Jason E Bond
- Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California Davis, 1 Shields Drive, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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Andrade MC. Sexual selection and social context: Web-building spiders as emerging models for adaptive plasticity. ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.asb.2019.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Male genital titillators and the intensity of post-copulatory sexual selection across bushcrickets. Behav Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arx094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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