Scarcity of suitable feeding sites drives weapon evolution in harlequin beetles

Evidence

The problem is that larval development can take a long time—up to a year or more—and this means that only the largest, thickest tree trunks will suffice. Only a collapsed giant will persist on the forest floor long enough for a female’s larvae to grow to full size. Fig trees like this don’t fall every day. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 206

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the economics-of-defense framework from Emlen’s own chapter on territory defense and to the broader resource-defense model in behavioral ecology. — connects to: Fighting and dispersal are alternative male strategies in Cardiocondyla ants — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 764; Competition for reproduction drives evolution of nature’s biggest weapons — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 136; Economic logic explains weapon evolution across virtually all animal species — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 198 (+3 more)

Related

• Competition for reproduction drives evolution of nature’s biggest weapons (similarity 0.88)
• Economic logic explains weapon evolution across virtually all animal species (similarity 0.87)
• Scarcity of egg-laying sites made big beetle weapons enormously beneficial (similarity 0.87)
• Variation in animal weapon size is explainable by species ecology and behavior. (similarity 0.82)
• Rare localized resources translate fighting success into reproductive success (similarity 0.82)
• Weapon size is favored when males defend resources females need (similarity 0.82)
• Males evolve big weapons to defend resources that females visit (similarity 0.81)
• Weapons evolve only when reproductive benefits exceed costs (similarity 0.81)
• Reproductive success, not survival, drives the largest animal weapons (similarity 0.81)
• Predator diversity is best explained by weapon adaptation to habitat and prey (similarity 0.80)
• Weapon size in animal species is under stabilizing selection, not open-ended directional selection (similarity 0.80)
• Costly weaponry can drive a species extinct when resources degrade. (similarity 0.80)
• Mobile resources deny weapons a cost-effective performance advantage (similarity 0.80)
• Extreme weapons across many insect species stunt eyes, wings, antennae, and testes (similarity 0.79)
• Extreme weapons evolved independently across roughly three thousand species (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Animal weapons evolved to extremes far beyond practical size #expands (0.70) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 2
• Deterrence amplifies the evolutionary payoff of extreme weapon size. #expands (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 387