PAIR-WISE COMPARISON OF SEXUAL SIZE DIMORPHISM AMONG NINE FACTORS IN FOREST MILLIPEDES CENTROBOLUS COOK, 1897

Author Name: Mark Cooper

Volume/Issue: 02/09

Country: South Africa

DOI NO.: 08.2020-25662434 DOI Link: https://www.doi-ds.org/doilink/03.2022-75935617/UIJIR

Affiliation:

School of Animal, Plant & Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa

ABSTRACT

The objectives of this study were to determine what happened when Bergmann’s Rule met Rensch’s Rule if Sexual Size Dimorphism (SSD) varied with nine factors. Body size, latitude, longitude, male mass, precipitation, temperature, the highest total hours of sunshine in a month, the hours of sunshine throughout the year, and the month with the highest number of rainy days were correlated with SSD in the forest millipede genus Centrobolus. Correlation coefficients were compared using MedCalc. 21 significant differences were found among the 36 pair-wise comparisons. Three highly significant differences in pair-wise comparisons of correlations in SSD were found among (1) body size and the highest total hours of sunshine in a month, (2) body size and latitude, and (3) body size and sunshine throughout the year.

Key words: Abiotic; biotic; dimorphic; gradient; size; species.