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Science 23 February 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5508, pp. 1505 - 1506
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5508.1505
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Perspectives

EVOLUTION:
A Horn for an Eye

Paul H. Harvey and Charles J. Godfray

The extravagant horns of male dung beetles are extremely diverse, varying in size, shape, and location on the head and thorax. This diversity has been attributed to sexual selection: The bigger the horns, the better able is the male beetle to fend off competing males and to win a mate. However, sexual selection is less able to explain the different locations on the body of the beetle horns. In a Perspective, Harvey and Godfray discuss new findings (Emlen) showing that there is a cost associated with such elaborate structures--nearby organs are much smaller--so that different beetle species evolved horns at locations close to the organs that they needed the least.

P. H. Harvey is in the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK. E-mail: paul.harvey@zoo.ox.ac.uk C. J. Godfray is at the Natural Environment Research Council Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK. E-mail: c.godfray{at}ic.ac.uk

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)