Abstract
In the crustacean Branchipus schaefferi cercopods are brightly coloured caudal rami at the end of the abdomen. The specific life environment of B. schaefferi (highly turbid puddles) may suggest that besides their mechanical function, cercopods may also play an ornamental role to attract a potential mate. We performed standardized major axis regression analyses of cercopod length against body length to determine the allometry. Each allometric slope of cercopod was compared with the median of slopes of non-sexual body parts: eye diameter, epipodit, and antennulae lengths. We also examined the relative differences in cercopods colouration between males and females within a population. Cercopods scaled slightly more positively when compared to both median slope of non-sexual traits as well as to typically used slope value 1. The difference in cercopods colouration between the sexes showed a strong sexual dimorphism. Sexual dimorphism in colouration and slightly positive allometry of cercopods support the hypothesis that this organ might be under the sexual selection and function as an ornament advertising fitness of an individual or a signal of sexual maturity of a male in highly turbid water.
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Czyż, M.J., Gołdyn, B. Relative scaling and colouration of cercopodes in Branchipus schaefferi (Crustacea: Branchiopoda). Biologia 72, 319–324 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2017-0026
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2017-0026