| sex ratio bias leads to the evolution of sex role reversal in honey locust beetles. | the reversal of conventional sex roles was enigmatic to darwin, who suggested that it may evolve when sex ratios are female biased [1]. here we present direct evidence confirming darwin's hypothesis. we investigated mating system evolution in a sex-role-reversed beetle (megabruchidius dorsalis) using experimental evolution under manipulated sex ratios and food regimes. in female-biased populations, where reproductive competition among females was intensified, females evolved to be more attractiv ... | 2016 | 27593373 |
| sexual dimorphism in epicuticular compounds despite similar sexual selection in sex role-reversed seed beetles. | sexual selection imposed by mating preferences is often implicated in the evolution of both sexual dimorphism and divergence between species in signalling traits. epicuticular compounds (ecs) are important signalling traits in insects and show extensive variability among and within taxa. here, we investigate whether variation in the multivariate ec profiles of two sex role-reversed beetle species, megabruchidius dorsalis and megabruchidius tonkineus, predicts mate attractiveness and mating succe ... | 2017 | 28834573 |