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Science 23 February 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5508, pp. 1534 - 1536
DOI: 10.1126/science.1056607
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Reports

Costs and the Diversification of Exaggerated Animal Structures

Douglas J. Emlen

Sexual selection can favor production of extravagant ornaments and weapons in the contest for access to the opposite sex. Existing explanations for the diversity of sexually selected structures focus on reproductive benefits conferred by particular ornament or weapon morphologies. Here, I show that costs of weapon production also may drive patterns of weapon evolution. In beetles, production of horns reduces the size of neighboring morphological structures (antennae, eyes, or wings, depending on the location of the horns), and these tradeoffs reveal unexpected functional associations between ecology and horn morphology. This study illustrates a critical but overlooked role of costs in sexual selection and has implications for understanding the evolution of animal morphology.

Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812-1002, USA. E-mail: demlen{at}selway.umt.edu

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