title: Scaling of sexual dimorphism in body weight and canine size in primates.
abstract: Among primates sexual dimorphism in both body weight and canine size increases exponentially with increasing body size. This suggests that a full explanation of the variance in sexual dimorphism can only be attained if, in addition to sexual selection, parental investment, and various ecological factors, the influence of body size is taken into account. Positive allometry in both body weight dimorphism and canine size dimorphism is demonstrated to be associated with polygyny. In monogamous species the two dimorphisms not only remain constant throughout the size range but actually are minimal or lacking at any given body size.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D003481:Cuspid / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011323:Primates / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013045:Species Specificity