Budečević Sanja, Savković Uroš, Đorđević Mirko, Vlajnić Lea, Stojković Biljana
Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković"-National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Bulevar Despota Stefana 142, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Institute of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski Trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Insects. 2021 Apr 14;12(4):350. doi: 10.3390/insects12040350.
Sexual dimorphism and specific patterns of development contribute in a great manner to the direction and degree of the sexual differences in body size and shape in many insects. Using a landmark-based geometric morpohometrics approach, we investigated sex-specific morphological size and shape variation in the seed beetle, . We also tested the functional hypothesis of the two morphological modules-thorax and abdomen in both sexes. Female-biased sexual dimorphism in size was shown, while differences in shape were reflected in the wider thorax and abdomen and shorter abdomen in females in comparison to males. The functional hypothesis of a two-module body was confirmed only in females before correction for size, and in both sexes after the allometry correction. Our results indicate that reproductive function has the central role in forming the patterns of modularity. We hypothesize that high morphological integration of the abdomen in females results from intense stabilizing selection, while the more relaxed integration in males is driven by the higher intensity of sexual selection.
在许多昆虫中，两性异形和特定的发育模式在很大程度上影响着身体大小和形状的性别差异的方向和程度。我们使用基于地标点的几何形态测量方法，研究了豆象种子甲虫的性别特异性形态大小和形状变异。我们还测试了两性中两个形态模块——胸部和腹部的功能假设。结果显示，体型上存在雌性偏向的两性异形，而形状差异体现在与雄性相比，雌性的胸部和腹部更宽，腹部更短。仅在对大小进行校正之前，双模块身体的功能假设在雌性中得到证实，而在进行异速生长校正后，在两性中均得到证实。我们的结果表明，生殖功能在形成模块模式中起核心作用。我们推测，雌性腹部较高的形态整合是由强烈的稳定选择导致的，而雄性中较宽松的整合则是由更高强度的性选择驱动的。
