Color Change from male-mimic to Gynomorphic: a New Aspect of Signaling Sexual Status in Damselflies (Odonata, Zygoptera)

Shao-Chang Huang and Judith Reinhard

Behavioral Ecology, 2012, vol. 23, issue 6, 1269-1275

Abstract: Body color variations are used by many animal species to communicate their sexual state and are believed to have evolved through sexual selection. In damselfly species (Odonata, Zygoptera), females sometimes come in different color morphs: gynomorphs and male-like andromorphs, pursuing different reproductive strategies. These distinct female color morphs are usually mature females and their color remains stable throughout the female’s life. Here, we show for the first time that blue andromorph females of the Australian damselfly Ischnura heterosticta, are still sexually immature, and change their body color to green-grey gynomorph when they are ready to mate. The color change occurs within 24h and is irreversible. Males of I. heterosticta rarely recognize blue andromorphs as potential mates, but mistake them for other males. The andromorphs thus avoid male sexual harassment, giving them the advantage of additional time to forage and sexually mature. The color change to gynomorph signals the readiness to mate, and the former andromorphs have equal mating success after the color change as other gynomorph females. Our results demonstrate that andromorph I. heterosticta use a complete and unique body color change from male-mimic to gynomorphic to signal sexual maturity and regulate reproduction. Our discovery gives rise to a novel hypothesis regarding maintenance of female-limited polymorphism in Ischnura damselflies via this color change mechanism.

Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/ars112 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:beheco:v:23:y:2012:i:6:p:1269-1275.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Behavioral Ecology is currently edited by Louise Barrett

More articles in Behavioral Ecology from International Society for Behavioral Ecology Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().