The evolution of female wing pigmentation in dragon- and damselflies (Insecta: Odonata)

Ana Laura Martínez-García, Alex Córdoba-Aguilar y Martín A. Serrano-MenesesIn 1871, Charles Darwin used the theory of sexual selection to explain why males of several animal taxa exhibited extravagant traits. Therefore traits like horns, conspicuous colours, long tails or appendages, protuberances or elongated mandibles were labeled as sexual traits (ST). A notable ST exhibited by adult males of several dragon- and damselfly taxa (odonates) is wing pigmentation. Although the sexual function of such trait is relatively well documented for several taxa (albeit most studies have concentrated on damselflies, particularly in calopterygids), very...

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