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Sexual selection on receptor organ traits: younger females attract males with longer antennae.
Johnson, Tamara L; Symonds, Matthew R E; Elgar, Mark A.
Afiliação
  • Johnson TL; School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia. tam.johnson9@gmail.com.
  • Symonds MRE; Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC, 3125, Australia.
  • Elgar MA; School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.
Naturwissenschaften ; 104(5-6): 44, 2017 Jun.
Article em En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28474181
Sexual selection theory predicts that female choice may favour the evolution of elaborate male signals. Darwin also suggested that sexual selection can favour elaborate receiver structures in order to better detect sexual signals, an idea that has been largely ignored. We evaluated this unorthodox perspective by documenting the antennal lengths of male Uraba lugens Walker (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) moths that were attracted to experimentally manipulated emissions of female sex pheromone. Either one or two females were placed in field traps for the duration of their adult lives in order to create differences in the quantity of pheromone emissions from the traps. The mean antennal length of males attracted to field traps baited with a single female was longer than that of males attracted to traps baited with two females, a pattern consistent with Darwin's prediction assuming the latter emits higher pheromone concentrations. Furthermore, younger females attracted males with longer antennae, which may reflect age-specific changes in pheromone emission. These field experiments provide the first direct evidence of an unappreciated role for sexual selection in the evolution of sexual dimorphism in moth antennae and raise the intriguing possibility that females select males with longer antennae through strategic emission of pheromones.
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Texto completo: 1 Coleções: 01-internacional Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Comportamento Sexual Animal / Mariposas Tipo de estudo: Prognostic_studies Limite: Animals Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2017 Tipo de documento: Article

Texto completo: 1 Coleções: 01-internacional Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Comportamento Sexual Animal / Mariposas Tipo de estudo: Prognostic_studies Limite: Animals Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2017 Tipo de documento: Article