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Allometry and Fighting Behaviour of a Dimorphic Stag Beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)

Male stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) use their mandibles as weapons to compete for resources and reproduction. Mandible size in stag beetles can be associated with different behaviours and the outcome of male contests. We investigated the allometric relationship between mandible and body size i...

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Autores principales: Chen, Zhen-Yi, Hsu, Yuying, Lin, Chung-Ping
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074643/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31979391
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11020081
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author Chen, Zhen-Yi
Hsu, Yuying
Lin, Chung-Ping
author_facet Chen, Zhen-Yi
Hsu, Yuying
Lin, Chung-Ping
author_sort Chen, Zhen-Yi
collection PubMed
description Male stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) use their mandibles as weapons to compete for resources and reproduction. Mandible size in stag beetles can be associated with different behaviours and the outcome of male contests. We investigated the allometric relationship between mandible and body size in males of the stag beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi to uncover distinct morphs. The results divided male C. mniszechi into majors and minors with the switch point of mandible length at 14.01 mm. The allometric slope of mandibles was positive for both morphs but was steeper for the minors. We also characterised the fighting behaviour of the different morphs in size-matched contests using sequential analyses. Males matched each other’s behaviour in contests with many physical contacts, no injury and a progression from low towards high aggression and rare de-escalation. Major and minor males employed the same behavioural elements in contests, but major males were more likely to escalate directly into more aggressive phases and minor males tended to stay within phases. This finding suggests that major males may compete more aggressively than minor males in contests.
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spelling pubmed-70746432020-03-20 Allometry and Fighting Behaviour of a Dimorphic Stag Beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) Chen, Zhen-Yi Hsu, Yuying Lin, Chung-Ping Insects Article Male stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) use their mandibles as weapons to compete for resources and reproduction. Mandible size in stag beetles can be associated with different behaviours and the outcome of male contests. We investigated the allometric relationship between mandible and body size in males of the stag beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi to uncover distinct morphs. The results divided male C. mniszechi into majors and minors with the switch point of mandible length at 14.01 mm. The allometric slope of mandibles was positive for both morphs but was steeper for the minors. We also characterised the fighting behaviour of the different morphs in size-matched contests using sequential analyses. Males matched each other’s behaviour in contests with many physical contacts, no injury and a progression from low towards high aggression and rare de-escalation. Major and minor males employed the same behavioural elements in contests, but major males were more likely to escalate directly into more aggressive phases and minor males tended to stay within phases. This finding suggests that major males may compete more aggressively than minor males in contests. MDPI 2020-01-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7074643/ /pubmed/31979391 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11020081 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Chen, Zhen-Yi
Hsu, Yuying
Lin, Chung-Ping
Allometry and Fighting Behaviour of a Dimorphic Stag Beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)
title Allometry and Fighting Behaviour of a Dimorphic Stag Beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)
title_full Allometry and Fighting Behaviour of a Dimorphic Stag Beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)
title_fullStr Allometry and Fighting Behaviour of a Dimorphic Stag Beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)
title_full_unstemmed Allometry and Fighting Behaviour of a Dimorphic Stag Beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)
title_short Allometry and Fighting Behaviour of a Dimorphic Stag Beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi (Coleoptera: Lucanidae)
title_sort allometry and fighting behaviour of a dimorphic stag beetle cyclommatus mniszechi (coleoptera: lucanidae)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074643/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31979391
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11020081
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