naa a22 4500 510780660 CHVBK 20180411083246.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20130601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11692-012-9203-6 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11692-012-9203-6 Evolution of Sexual Dimorphism in the Number of Tail Vertebrae in Salamanders: Comparing Multiple Hypotheses [Elektronische Daten] [Gentile Ficetola, Anna Bonardi, Emiliano Colleoni, Emilio Padoa-Schioppa, Stefano Scali] The evolution of sexual dimorphism is an important topic of evolutionary biology, but few studies have investigated the determinants of sexual dimorphism over broad phylogenetic scales. The number of vertebrae is a discrete character influencing multiple traits of individuals, and is particularly suitable to analyze processes determining morphological variation. We evaluated the support of multiple hypotheses concerning evolutionary processes that may cause sexual dimorphism in the number of caudal vertebrae in Urodela (tailed amphibians). We obtained counts of caudal vertebrae from >2,000 individuals representing 27 species of salamanders and newts from Europe and the Near East, and integrated these data with a molecular phylogeny and multiple information on species natural history. Per each species, we estimated sexual dimorphism in caudal vertebrae number. We then used phylogenetic least squares to relate this sexual dimorphism to natural history features (courtship complexity, body size dimorphism, sexual ornamentation, aquatic phenology) representing alternative hypotheses on processes that may explain sexual dimorphism. In 18% of species, males had significantly more caudal vertebrae than females, while in no species did females have significantly more caudal vertebrae. Dimorphism was highest in species where males have more complex courtship behaviours, while the support of other candidate mechanisms was weak. In many species, males use the tail during courtship displays, and sexual selection probably favours tails with more vertebrae. Dimorphism for the number of tail vertebrae was unrelated to other forms of dimorphism, such as sexual ornamentation or body size differences. Multiple sexually dimorphic features may evolve independently because of the interplay between sexual selection, fecundity and natural selection. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2012 Sexual selection nationallicence Fecundity selection nationallicence Newts nationallicence Caudata nationallicence Behaviour nationallicence Ommatotriton nationallicence Lissotriton nationallicence Ficetola Gentile Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio e della terra, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy aut Bonardi Anna Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio e della terra, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy aut Colleoni Emiliano Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio e della terra, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy aut Padoa-Schioppa Emilio Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio e della terra, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy aut Scali Stefano Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano, Corso Venezia 55, 20121, Milan, Italy aut Evolutionary Biology Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 40/2(2013-06-01), 220-227 0071-3260 40:2<220 2013 40 11692 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-012-9203-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-012-9203-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ficetola Gentile Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio e della terra, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Bonardi Anna Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio e della terra, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Colleoni Emiliano Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio e della terra, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Padoa-Schioppa Emilio Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio e della terra, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Scali Stefano Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano, Corso Venezia 55, 20121, Milan, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Evolutionary Biology Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 40/2(2013-06-01), 220-227 0071-3260 40:2<220 2013 40 11692 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer