Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations August 2020 Evolution of Secondary Sexual Characters in Pselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) Laura Maria Vasquez-Velez Clemson University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Recommended Citation Vasquez-Velez, Laura Maria, "Evolution of Secondary Sexual Characters in Pselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)" (2020). All Dissertations. 2696. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2696 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. EVOLUTION OF SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS IN PSELAPHINAE (COLEOPTERA: STAPHYLINIDAE) A D issertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Entomology by Laura María Vásquez Vélez August 2020 Accepted by: Dr. Michael S. Caterino, Committee Chair Dr. Peter Adler Dr. Juan Antonio Baeza Dr. Joseph Parker ABSTRACT Secondary sexual characters (SSC) are traits present only in one sex, commonly on males, and different from the reproductive organs. These characters have evolved mainly through the action of Sexual Selection, the differential mating success of organisms of the same species. Males use SSC to challenge other males for access to females, while females use these traits as signals to choose mates with overall good. SSC can manifest as horns, tusks, enlarged appendages, spines, coloration, and body size. Sexually dimorphic traits are present in all major groups of animals, including Insects. Sexual selection and secondary sexual traits have been proposed to be drivers for speciation on hypothetical bases, but empirical evidence has proven to be inconclusive.