Lestes Lab, Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, MG, Brazil.
Graduate Program in Entomology, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
Naturwissenschaften. 2021 Dec 7;109(1):2. doi: 10.1007/s00114-021-01775-5.
Female mimicry by males is a widespread phenomenon in several taxa and may be involved in aggression avoidance or facilitated access to resources. In early developmental stages, female mimicry may be a mechanism involved in signalling sexual immaturity or, when coupled with strategies related to visual camouflage, may be involved in the avoidance of male-male agonistic interactions. Here, we addressed whether the delayed colour maturation of a sexual ornament in males of Mnesarete pudica damselflies might be a case of crypsis, female mimicry or both. We analysed how conspecifics and predators perceive the pigmented wings of juvenile males by contrasting the wing spectra against a savannah background and the wings of both juvenile and sexually mature males and females. Our results based on the modelled visual system of conspecifics and predators suggest that the colour maturation of juvenile males may function as both crypsis and female mimicry. We discuss whether these results related to age- and sexual-dichromatism might be a mechanism to avoid unwanted intraspecific interactions or to avoid territorial and aggressive males. We conclude that the female mimicry and crypsis in juvenile males of M. pudica are mechanisms involved in avoidance of predators and unwanted intraspecific interactions, and the signalling of sexual maturity.
雄性的雌性拟态是多个分类群中广泛存在的现象，可能涉及回避攻击或更方便地获取资源。在早期发育阶段，雌性拟态可能是一种参与信号传递性未成熟的机制，或者当与视觉伪装相关的策略相结合时，可能涉及回避雄性之间的好斗互动。在这里，我们探讨了 Mnesarete pudica 蜻蛉雄性的性装饰物的颜色成熟延迟是否可能是一种伪装、雌性拟态或两者兼而有之的情况。我们通过对比幼年雄性的翅膀光谱与热带草原背景以及幼年和性成熟雄性和雌性的翅膀，分析了同种和捕食者如何感知未成年雄性有色素的翅膀。我们基于同种和捕食者的视觉系统模型得出的结果表明，幼年雄性的颜色成熟可能既是伪装又是雌性拟态。我们讨论了这些与年龄和性别二态性相关的结果是否可能是一种避免不必要的种内相互作用或避免领地和攻击性雄性的机制。我们得出结论，M. pudica 幼年雄性的雌性拟态和伪装是避免捕食者和不必要的种内相互作用以及性成熟信号的机制。
