IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/beheco/v34y2023i4p613-620..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Juvenile leg autotomy predicts adult male morph in a New Zealand harvestman with weapon polymorphism

Author

Listed:
  • Erin C Powell
  • Christina J Painting
  • Glauco Machado
  • Gregory I Holwell

Abstract

Intraspecific weapon polymorphisms that arise via conditional thresholds may be affected by juvenile experience such as predator encounters, yet this idea has rarely been tested. The New Zealand harvestman Forsteropsalis pureora has three male morphs: majors (alphas and betas) are large-bodied with large chelicerae used in male–male contests, while minors (gammas) are small-bodied with small chelicerae and scramble to find mates. Individuals use leg autotomy to escape predators and there is no regeneration of the missing leg. Here, we tested whether juvenile experience affects adult morph using leg autotomy scars as a proxy of predator encounters. Juvenile males that lost at least one leg (with either locomotory or sensory function) had a 45 times higher probability of becoming a minor morph at adulthood than intact juvenile males. Leg loss during development may affect foraging, locomotion, and/or physiology, potentially linking a juvenile’s predator encounters to their final adult morph and future reproductive tactic.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin C Powell & Christina J Painting & Glauco Machado & Gregory I Holwell, 2023. "Juvenile leg autotomy predicts adult male morph in a New Zealand harvestman with weapon polymorphism," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 34(4), pages 613-620.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:34:y:2023:i:4:p:613-620.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/arad029
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christina J Painting & Gregory I Holwell, 2013. "Exaggerated Trait Allometry, Compensation and Trade-Offs in the New Zealand Giraffe Weevil (Lasiorhynchus barbicornis)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-1, November.
    2. Tara Lynne Maginnis, 2006. "The costs of autotomy and regeneration in animals: a review and framework for future research," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 17(5), pages 857-872, September.
    3. Roberto Munguía-Steyer & Bruno A. Buzatto & Glauco Machado, 2012. "Male dimorphism of a neotropical arachnid: harem size, sneaker opportunities, and gonadal investment," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(4), pages 827-835.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrés Ramírez-Ponce & Gabriela Garfias-Lozano & Atilano Contreras-Ramos, 2017. "The nature of allometry in an exaggerated trait: The postocular flange in Platyneuromus Weele (Insecta: Megaloptera)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Christina J Painting & Gregory I Holwell, 2013. "Exaggerated Trait Allometry, Compensation and Trade-Offs in the New Zealand Giraffe Weevil (Lasiorhynchus barbicornis)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-1, November.
    3. Zachary Emberts & Christine W. Miller & Daniel Kiehl & Colette M. St. Mary, 2017. "Cut your losses: self-amputation of injured limbs increases survival," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 28(4), pages 1047-1054.
    4. Gerad A Fox & Allen M Cooper & William K Hayes, 2015. "The Dilemma of Choosing a Reference Character for Measuring Sexual Size Dimorphism, Sexual Body Component Dimorphism, and Character Scaling: Cryptic Dimorphism and Allometry in the Scorpion Hadrurus a," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Zachary Emberts & Ummat Somjee & John J Wiens, 2021. "Damage from intraspecific combat is costly," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 32(6), pages 1240-1245.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:34:y:2023:i:4:p:613-620.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/beheco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.