Sexual Dimorphism in Yellow-Spotted Salamander, Pseudohynobius flavomaculatus (Urodela: Hynobiidae)

Jianli Xiong, Xiuying Liu, Xiaomei Zhang, Mengyun Li

Abstract


Sexual dimorphism is a widespread phenomenon throughout animal kingdom, and is a key topic of evolutionary biology. Here we examined the sexual dimorphism of morphometric characters in a species endemic to China, Pseudohynobius flavomaculatus, based on preserved specimens. The body size of females was larger than males, but the results of one-way ANOVA showed that there is no sexual size dimorphism presented in P. flavomaculatus. There is only one sexual dimorphism presented in body shape (space between axilla and groin, females larger than males), this may relate to fecundity and sexual selection. Our study represents one of the few reported examples of sexual dimorphism in Asian salamanders.

Keywords


sexual size dimorphism; Asian salamander; morphometric character; yellow-spotted salamander

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2016-23-3-235-238

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