Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Shape and Its Impact on Conspecific Identification of Neotropical <i>Fannia</i> Species (Diptera: Fanniidae)
Neotropical species of the genus <i>Fannia</i> remain poorly known despite their potential collection as biological evidence in criminal investigations. This is partly due to taxonomic difficulties and a lack of specialists. Identifying neotropical species of <i>Fannia</i> re...
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2024-11-01
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| author | Yesica Durango-Manrique Andrés López-Rubio Giovan F. Gómez |
| author_facet | Yesica Durango-Manrique Andrés López-Rubio Giovan F. Gómez |
| author_sort | Yesica Durango-Manrique |
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| description | Neotropical species of the genus <i>Fannia</i> remain poorly known despite their potential collection as biological evidence in criminal investigations. This is partly due to taxonomic difficulties and a lack of specialists. Identifying neotropical species of <i>Fannia</i> relies mainly on the classical morphological characters of adult males, as females show high similarity between species. Here, landmark-based geometric morphometrics of the wing could constitute an additional tool for associating adult females with conspecifics in this genus. In this study, we used a reference dataset of males belonging to ten putative species of <i>Fannia</i> from Colombia and molecular data to test this hypothesis. We found a strong wing shape sexual dimorphism, resulting in an almost perfect sex assignment based solely on this trait. However, the differences in wing shape between sexes were greater than those between species, making conspecific identification difficult. Our data show that wing shape could only feasibly be used for identifying adult males and females of <i>F. lamosca</i>, and males of <i>F. dorsomaculata</i> and <i>F. pseudoconstricta</i>. Low discrimination scores among remaining species may be partly explained by high intraspecific variation, slight wing shape differences among closely related species, or sampling bias. Although this study provides the first wing size and shape comparison among neotropical <i>Fannia</i> species, more samples and species are needed to validate these findings and identify the potential factors influencing this trait. Furthermore, the wing shape sexual dimorphism across <i>Fannia</i> species suggests different life-history strategies between sexes and possible genetic canalization mechanisms. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | DOAJ |
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| spelling | doaj-art-2cc6616260e0404ebe67897a8acd803c2025-08-20T02:56:58ZengMDPI AGTaxonomy2673-65002024-11-014479580410.3390/taxonomy4040043Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Shape and Its Impact on Conspecific Identification of Neotropical <i>Fannia</i> Species (Diptera: Fanniidae)Yesica Durango-Manrique0Andrés López-Rubio1Giovan F. Gómez2Grupo de Investigación Bioforense, Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Forenses, Tecnológico de Antioquia, Institución Universitaria, Medellín 050010, ColombiaGrupo de Investigación Bioforense, Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Forenses, Tecnológico de Antioquia, Institución Universitaria, Medellín 050010, ColombiaEscuela de Pregrados—Km 9 vía Valledupar—La Paz, Universidad Nacional de Colombia—Sede de La Paz—Dirección Académica, La Paz 202017, ColombiaNeotropical species of the genus <i>Fannia</i> remain poorly known despite their potential collection as biological evidence in criminal investigations. This is partly due to taxonomic difficulties and a lack of specialists. Identifying neotropical species of <i>Fannia</i> relies mainly on the classical morphological characters of adult males, as females show high similarity between species. Here, landmark-based geometric morphometrics of the wing could constitute an additional tool for associating adult females with conspecifics in this genus. In this study, we used a reference dataset of males belonging to ten putative species of <i>Fannia</i> from Colombia and molecular data to test this hypothesis. We found a strong wing shape sexual dimorphism, resulting in an almost perfect sex assignment based solely on this trait. However, the differences in wing shape between sexes were greater than those between species, making conspecific identification difficult. Our data show that wing shape could only feasibly be used for identifying adult males and females of <i>F. lamosca</i>, and males of <i>F. dorsomaculata</i> and <i>F. pseudoconstricta</i>. Low discrimination scores among remaining species may be partly explained by high intraspecific variation, slight wing shape differences among closely related species, or sampling bias. Although this study provides the first wing size and shape comparison among neotropical <i>Fannia</i> species, more samples and species are needed to validate these findings and identify the potential factors influencing this trait. Furthermore, the wing shape sexual dimorphism across <i>Fannia</i> species suggests different life-history strategies between sexes and possible genetic canalization mechanisms.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6500/4/4/43geometric morphometricslandmarkssexual variationphenotypeforensic entomology |
| spellingShingle | Yesica Durango-Manrique Andrés López-Rubio Giovan F. Gómez Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Shape and Its Impact on Conspecific Identification of Neotropical <i>Fannia</i> Species (Diptera: Fanniidae) Taxonomy geometric morphometrics landmarks sexual variation phenotype forensic entomology |
| title | Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Shape and Its Impact on Conspecific Identification of Neotropical <i>Fannia</i> Species (Diptera: Fanniidae) |
| title_full | Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Shape and Its Impact on Conspecific Identification of Neotropical <i>Fannia</i> Species (Diptera: Fanniidae) |
| title_fullStr | Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Shape and Its Impact on Conspecific Identification of Neotropical <i>Fannia</i> Species (Diptera: Fanniidae) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Shape and Its Impact on Conspecific Identification of Neotropical <i>Fannia</i> Species (Diptera: Fanniidae) |
| title_short | Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Shape and Its Impact on Conspecific Identification of Neotropical <i>Fannia</i> Species (Diptera: Fanniidae) |
| title_sort | sexual dimorphism in wing shape and its impact on conspecific identification of neotropical i fannia i species diptera fanniidae |
| topic | geometric morphometrics landmarks sexual variation phenotype forensic entomology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6500/4/4/43 |
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