Alternative reproductive strategies in black-winged territorial males ofParaphlebia zoe(Odonata, Thaumatoneuridae)

Abstract

Alternative reproductive strategies are commonly associated with male dimorphism. In Paraphlebia zoe, a species of damselfly whose males are dimorphic in wing coloration, black-and-white-winged (BW) males defend territories, while hyaline-winged (HW) males usually play the role of satellites. We found that several BW males can sometimes share a territory, and we hypothesized that within this morph there are two alternative tactics: submissive and dominant. We conducted an experiment to test whether dominant and submissive roles are plastic or stable and fixed on each individual. To this end, we manipulated black and white spots of BW males in four treatments: (i) painting over white and black spots without changing their size, (ii) erasing the white spot using black painting, (iii) increasing the black spot and moving the white spot maintaining its size and (iv) control males. Additionally, we investigated the correlation between some phenotypic variables (wing asymmetry, survival and recapture probabilities) and male behaviour (in terms of quality of the territory). We found that the two behavioural roles (submissive and dominant) were not affected by the manipulative experiments, therefore suggesting that they are stable and fixed. Additionally, we found a positive correlation between body size and survival in both sexes, and a positive effect of territory quality and lifespan on mating success. Moreover, the largest and youngest BW males were the most symmetrical. We conclude that Paraphlebia zoe holds high behavioural diversity, with two types of strategies in BW males, dominant and submissive. The occurrence of this intra-morph behavioural diversity might depend on demographic factors such as population density and/or the relative frequency of the different morphs.

Body mass and territorial defence strategy affect the territory size of odonate species

“…wing spots). These are often considered 'honest' sexual signals that indicate the quality of a territorial male [15][16][17][18], but whether the size of these wing spots correlates with the success of holding a territory is so far inconclusive [19,20]. Furthermore, the possibility to implement modern phylogenetic analysis on an already existing dataset of odonate territory size [11] provided the stimulus for the current study.…”

Dragon colors: the nature and function of Odonata (dragonfly and damselfly) coloration

“…Though less common, there are also cases of male‐limited polymorphism in odonates (e.g., Mnais andersoni , Mnais costalis , Paraphlebia quinta ) (Hooper et al., 1999; Romo‐Beltrán et al., 2009). Diversity of color traits in polymorphic species is usually associated with certain behaviors in individuals (e.g., territoriality), which do not change when the color of an individual is modified experimentally (Rivas‐Torres et al., 2019), but such modification can elicit different responses from conspecifics (Beatty et al., 2015).…”

Investigating Unused Tools for the Animal Behavioral Diversity Toolkit

“…Of these studies, the Orders of Carnivora [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ], Cetacea [ 10 , 46 ] and primates [ 18 ], particularly chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 ] were the most commonly studied groups. While reptile [ 62 , 63 , 64 ], bird, fish [ 65 ] and invertebrate [ 66 , 67 ] species appeared in some studies, they were in the minority overall. No studies of behavioral diversity in amphibians were identified.…”