Sexual selection and butterfly design - a comparative study

Abstract

Temperate butterflies of 44 species were examined to determine if their mating system (perching and patrolling) affected flight design. In perching species sexual selection was predicted to favor traits associated with high acceleration ability and speed while in patrolling species traits associated with flight endurance were predicted. In conformance with these expectations males of perching species had larger thorax/body mass ratios, higher wing loadings, and higher aspect ratios than patrolling species. This could be explained by a genetic correlation with males. When removing the covariance between the sexes, only male design was explained by the mating system. The mating system was also associated with different degrees of sexual dimorphism in wing size. This supported the hypothesis that male design was affected by the mating system. -from Author