| Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) although a widespread phenomenon among animals, is both enigmatic as to its proximate and ultimate causes and the scaling relationships between SSD and body size (Rensch's rule). We analyzed SSD at the intra- and interspecific levels in a number of representative species and genera of the major orthopteroid orders: Orthoptera, Phasmatodea, Mantodea, Blattodea, Dermaptera, Isoptera, and Mantophasmatodea. The vast majority of the species showed female biased SSD but numerous exceptions occur in cockroaches and earwigs. Rensch's rule and its converse are not common patterns at both, intra-and cross-species level, most species and genera showing an isometric relationship between male and female body sizes. In some but not all... |
