title: Male aggressive behavior and exaggerated hindlegs of the bean bug Riptortus pedestris.
abstract: Males of the bean bug species Riptortus pedestris possess larger hindlegs than females. Observations of male-male interactions showed that the enlarged hindlegs are used as weapons in male fights, and that males with larger hindlegs win fights more frequently. Morphological analysis based on the positive allometry test showed that the femora of larger males are relatively bigger than those of smaller males, but femora of larger females are not relatively larger than those of smaller females. These results suggest that sexual selection in R. pedestris favors larger hindlegs for male fighting. In addition, the thorax and abdomen lengths were larger in the male than in the female. The males often lift their abdomen with their back to the opponent for displays against an opponent. As a result, abdominal size may be under stronger selection in the male than in the female, as for the exaggerated hindlegs.
authors: Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology, Graduate School of Environmental Science, Okayama University, Tsushima-naka 111, Okayama 700-8530, Japan. okaken@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp
authors: Kensuke
authors: K
authors: Okada
authors: Yû
authors: Y
authors: Suzaki
authors: Yasukazu
authors: Y
authors: Okada
authors: Takahisa
authors: T
authors: Miyatake
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005260:Female; D020062:Heteroptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male