Questions: Are there differences in whole-animal performance between the sexes, and what are the causes of this sexual dimorphism? Organisms: Humans, horses, greyhound dogs, pigeons, and lizards. Methods: We analysed performance records of human athletes, racehorses, greyhound dogs, racing pigeons, and lizards with respect to sexual dimorphism. Using the lizard data set, we correlated sexual di...

Theoretical and empirical observations generally support Darwin's view that sexual dimorphism evolves due to sexual selection on, and deviation in, exaggerated male traits. Wallace presented a radical alternative, which is largely untested, that sexual dimorphism results from naturally selected deviation in protective female coloration. This leads to the prediction that deviation in female rath...

The evolutionary determinants of sexual dimorphism among primates continue to be debated. This paper uses field observations ofa Malagasy primate, Propithecus uerreauxi, to argue that one problem underlying this debate is the unrecognized heterogeneity of mating system categories used in comparative analyses investigating the importance of sexual selection in determining sexual dimorphism. It i...

Sexual dimorphism is presumed to reflect adaptive divergence in response to selection favouring different optimal character states in the two sexes. Here, we analyse patterns of sexual dimorphism in the cuticular hydrocarbons of the Australian field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus using gas chromatography. Ten of the 25 peaks found in our chromatographs, differed in their relative abundance betw...

Sexual dimorphism in body size (sexual size dimorphism) is common in many species. The sources of selection that generate the independent evolution of adult male and female size have been investigated extensively by evolutionary biologists, but how and when females and males grow apart during ontogeny is poorly understood. Here we use the hawkmoth, Manduca sexta, to examine when sexual size dim...

Female-biased sexual dimorphism is uncommon in mammals and is usually attributed to increased fecundity of large females. Moreover, sexual dimorphism is usually described for adults, and the ontogeny of sex differences is poorly documented. We studied cliff chipmunks (Tamias dorsalis), a small mammal with female-biased sexual dimorphism, to describe development of sexual dimorphism in juveniles...

Size sexual dimorphism is one of the major components of morphological variation and has been associated with socio-ecology and behavioral variables such as mating patterns. Although several studies have addressed the magnitude and pattern of sexual dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis, one of the earliest hominids, consensus has yet to be reached. This paper uses assigned re-sampling metho...

Lifetime reproductive success of males is often dependent upon the ability to physically compete for mates. However, species variation in social structure leads to differences in the relative importance of intraspecific aggression. Here, we present a large comparative dataset on sexual dimorphism in skeletal shape in Carnivora to test the hypotheses that carnivorans exhibit sexual dimorphism in...

Differences among taxa in sexual size dimorphism of adults can be produced by changes in distinct developmental processes and thus may reflect different evolutionary histories. Here we examine whether divergence in sexual dimorphism of adults between recently established Montana and Alabama populations of the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) can be attributed to population differences in grow...

Sexual dimorphism in the primate face has been studied intensively lately, but a number of issues remain controversial. For example, some studies have indicated that facial sexual dimorphism arises through ontogenetic scaling, whereas others have found it to be a consequence of both ontogenetic scaling and divergence in male and female growth trajectories. To shed further light on primate facia...