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1. Large individuals are often not exact scaled-up versions of small ones. As body size changes so does the relative size of traits. The Jousting weevil provides an excellent opportunity to study scaling because of their extreme size variation #Animbehav2021
Males fight vigorously for mating opportunities & females mate multiply so competition likely continues in the post-copulatory arena. Does weapon size correlate negatively with post-copulatory traits? #Animbehav2021
We found that large males have disproportionately larger weapons and disproportionately smaller post-copulatory traits. Males also had slight positive allometry of legs compared to similarly-sized females, perhaps to support their massive weapons #Animbehav2021
Do large & small males behave differently? In standardized fight trials, we size-matched 2 males and placed them with a female. Large males were more likely to interact & fight with each other, but both large and small males had equal probability of mating #Animbehav2021
What about females? Females fight too! We found that one part of the female rostrum scales with positive allometry similar to males, but the front part scales with lower allometry; this is used to drill holes to lay eggs and serves a dual function #Animbehav2021
This raises lots of q’s! Why are vast differences in size maintained and what are their consequences in males and females; Size variation is a ubiquitous trait, and species with extreme variation like the jousting weevil can get us closer to understanding this diversity
Thanks to the core field team @AztecaCecropia @SalAnzaldo for making this happen. Thanks @cpaintingnz for insights through this process ! Thanks for the support @stri_panama
For a deeper look showing the reversed allocation towards pre- and post-copulatory sexually selected traits in these jousting weevils here is another graphic by @AztecaCecropia
