Centre for Evolutionary Biology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2016 Oct;31(10):742-751. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2016.07.004. Epub 2016 Jul 28.
The elaboration and diversification of sexually selected weapons remain poorly understood. We argue that progress in this topic has been hindered by a strong bias in sexual selection research, and a tendency for weapons to be conflated with ornaments used in mate choice. Here, we outline how male-male competition and female choice are distinct mechanisms of sexual selection, and why weapons and ornaments are fundamentally different types of traits. We call for research on the factors contributing to weapon divergence, the potential for male-male competition to drive speciation, and the specific use of weapons in the context of direct fights versus displays. Given that weapons are first and foremost fighting structures, biomechanical approaches are an especially promising direction for understanding weapon design.
性选择武器的精细化和多样化仍未得到充分理解。我们认为，在这个主题上的进展受到性选择研究中的强烈偏见以及武器与用于配偶选择的装饰物相混淆的趋势的阻碍。在这里，我们概述了雄性间竞争和雌性选择是如何成为两种不同的性选择机制的，以及为什么武器和装饰物是完全不同类型的特征。我们呼吁对导致武器分歧的因素、雄性间竞争在物种形成中的潜在作用以及在直接战斗与展示的背景下武器的具体使用进行研究。鉴于武器首先是战斗结构，因此从生物力学的角度来理解武器设计是一个特别有前途的方向。
