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Why does the Matador Bug, Anisoscelis alipes (Hemiptera: Coreidae), Wave its Brightly Colored Legs?

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Abstract

Many animals exhibit elaborate traits and conspicuous behaviors. Sexual or social selection are often drivers of extreme trait elaboration and signalling, but conspicuous traits may also serve non-social functions. The matador bug, Anisoscelis alipes (Hemiptera: Coreidae), has large, brightly colored tibial expansions on its hind legs which are used to perform a stereotypic “waving” behavior, the function of which is unknown. If this phenotype functions primarily as a sexually selected aggressive signal, we predicted sexual dimorphism both in morphology and behavior, as well as positive size allometry. Alternatively, if these traits function as non-sexual social signals, both male and females may perform waving behavior, and the frequency or rate of flag-waving should increase with proximity to conspecifics. Against some of our predictions, we found both males and females exhibited hind leg expansions which scaled isometrically with body size. We recorded 745 leg waves among 12 individuals and found no difference in the overall number of waves or the rate of waving between males and females. Further, the sex of individuals in the social environment did not predict the number of waves or rate of flag-waving. Sexual selection is often reported to be the main driver of many highly conspicuous traits, but our investigation of morphology, behavior, and natural history reveals little evidence for social or sexual selection as the primary driver of these conspicuous signals. We suggest future studies investigate a potential anti-predator function to explain the evolution of colorful and expanded tibial flags in other flag-legged bugs.

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Data availability

Data is in the DRYAD repository. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hc7

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Acknowledgements

We thank Lovisa Dück for invaluable assistance in the field and collecting insects. Sabrina Amador and Annette Aiello provided insightful feedback and support throughout this project. We thank Mario Santamaria for access to his farm and maracuyà plants. Gregg Cohen, Rachel Page, William Wcislo, Katherine Sinacore, Adriana Tapia, Benita C. Laird-Hopkins, Harlan Gough and Dumas Galvez for assistance finding and collecting insects. We would also like to acknowledge the support of MiAmbiente (Ministerio de Ambiente, Panama) for collecting and research permits (permit #SC/A-33-19).

Funding

This project was supported by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) Earl S. Tupper post-doctoral fellowship to US. A STRI short-term fellowship to CL. Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour grant to GG.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Cameron Longbottom

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panamá

    Ummat Somjee

  3. Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Jay J. Falk

  4. School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    E.V(Ginny) Greenway

  5. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Meredith G. Johnson

  6. Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Christian Ramos

  7. Department of Collective Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Constance, Germany

    Daniela C. Rößler

  8. Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Juliette J. Rubin

  9. McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Juliette J. Rubin

  10. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA

    Ummat Somjee

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  1. Cameron Longbottom
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Contributions

CL, US, GG, and MJ designed the study. CL & CR collected the data. JF, US, and CL analysed the data. CL and US wrote the paper. US, CL, JF, DR, GG, JR provided critical feedback on writing and analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ummat Somjee.

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Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The data was collected with approval from MiAmbiente research permit to Ummat Somjee (SC/A-33–19). The focal species in this study is not under protection. No approval from an ethics committee was required for this species.

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We have no competing interests to declare.

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Longbottom, C., Falk, J.J., Greenway, E. et al. Why does the Matador Bug, Anisoscelis alipes (Hemiptera: Coreidae), Wave its Brightly Colored Legs?. J Insect Behav 35, 171–182 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-022-09809-0

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