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Coevolution of female and male genital components to avoid genital size mismatches in sexually dimorphic spiders

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Ecology and Evolution, August 2016
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Title
Coevolution of female and male genital components to avoid genital size mismatches in sexually dimorphic spiders
Published in
BMC Ecology and Evolution, August 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12862-016-0734-9
Pubmed ID
Authors

Nik Lupše, Ren-Chung Cheng, Matjaž Kuntner

Abstract

In most animal groups, it is unclear how body size variation relates to genital size differences between the sexes. While most morphological features tend to scale with total somatic size, this does not necessarily hold for genitalia because divergent evolution in somatic size between the sexes would cause genital size mismatches. Theory predicts that the interplay of female-biased sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and sexual genital size dimorphism (SGD) should adhere to the 'positive genital divergence', the 'constant genital divergence', or the 'negative genital divergence' model, but these models remain largely untested. We test their validity in the spider family Nephilidae known for the highest degrees of SSD among terrestrial animals. Through comparative analyses of sex-specific somatic and genital sizes, we first demonstrate that 99 of the 351 pairs of traits are phylogenetically correlated. Through factor analyses we then group these traits for MCMCglmm analyses that test broader correlation patterns, and these reveal significant correlations in 10 out of the 36 pairwise comparisons. Both types of analyses agree that female somatic and internal genital sizes evolve independently. While sizes of non-intromittent male genital parts coevolve with male body size, the size of the intromittent male genital parts is independent of the male somatic size. Instead, male intromittent genital size coevolves with female (external and, in part, internal) genital size. All analyses also agree that SGD and SSD evolve independently. Internal dimensions of female genitalia evolve independently of female body size in nephilid spiders, and similarly, male intromittent genital size evolves independently of the male body size. The size of the male intromittent organ (the embolus) and the sizes of female internal and external genital components thus seem to respond to selection against genital size mismatches. In accord with these interpretations, we reject the validity of the existing theoretical models of genital and somatic size dimorphism in spiders.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 35 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Brazil 2 6%
Cuba 1 3%
Unknown 32 91%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 7 20%
Student > Ph. D. Student 6 17%
Professor 4 11%
Researcher 4 11%
Student > Master 4 11%
Other 7 20%
Unknown 3 9%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 27 77%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 2 6%
Unspecified 1 3%
Environmental Science 1 3%
Unknown 4 11%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 23 November 2018.
All research outputs
#8,534,976
of 25,374,647 outputs
Outputs from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#1,997
of 3,714 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#126,203
of 354,260 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#39
of 60 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,647 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,714 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.5. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 354,260 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 48th percentile – i.e., 48% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 60 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 31st percentile – i.e., 31% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.