Allometry constrains the evolution of sexual dimorphism in Drosophila across 33 million years of divergence

Sexual dimorphism is widely viewed as adaptive, reflecting the evolution of males and females toward divergent fitness optima. Its evolution, however, may often be constrained by the shared genetic architecture of the sexes, and by allometry. Here, we investigated the evolution of sexual size dimorphism, shape dimorphism, and their allometric relationship, in the wings of 82 taxa in the family Drosophilidae that have been diverging for at least 33 million years. Shape dimorphism among species was remarkably similar, with males characterized by longer, thinner wings than females. There was, however, quantitative variation among species in both size and shape dimorphism, with evidence that they have adapted to different evolutionary optima in different clades on timescales of about 10 million years. Within species, shape dimorphism was predicted by size, and among species, there was a strong relationship between size dimorphism and shape dimorphism. Allometry constrained the evolution of shape dimorphism for the two most variable traits we studied, but dimorphism was evolutionary labile in other traits. The keys for disentangling alternative explanations for dimorphism evolution are studies of natural and sexual selection, together with a deeper understanding of how microevolutionary parameters of evolvability relate to macroevolutionary patterns of divergence.

Automated summary

Sexual dimorphism is widely believed to be an adaptive trait, with males and females evolving towards different fitness optima. Evolution of sexual size dimorphism, shape dimorphism, and their allometric relationship were investigated in 82 taxa in the family Drosophilidae, showing remarkable similarities in shape dimorphism among species and quantitative variation in both size and shape dimorphism. The evolution of dimorphism was constrained by allometry for some traits, but was evolutionarily labile in others, suggesting different evolutionary optima among species over millions of years.