title: From Evolutionary Allometry to Sexual Display: (A Reply to Holman and Bro-Jørgensen).
abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that the complex shapes of deer antlers are produced under the sole influence of sexual selection. We questioned this view by demonstrating that trends for increased body size evolution passively yield more-complex ornaments, even in organisms where no effect of sexual selection is possible, with similar allometric slopes. Recent investigations suggest that sexual selection on antlers of larger deer species is stronger than that in smaller species; hence, the use of conspicuous antlers for display in large male deer is a secondary function driven by especially intense sexual selection on these large-bodied species. Since ancestral deer were small and had very simple antlers, such an intense selection on antlers shape was probably absent in early deer. Therefore, the evolution of complex ornaments is coupled with body size evolution, even in deer.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Raia
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Passaro
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carotenuto
authors.forename: Shai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meiri
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piras
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000999:Antlers; D049628:Body Size; D003670:Deer; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal
keywords: antler; display; sexual selection