Relationship between body size and sexual size dimorphism in syringophilid quill mites.

A positive relationship of body size and sexual size dimorphism (males' size relative to females), called Rensch's rule, is often observed in comparisons within non-parasitic taxa. However, this allometric relationship has rarely been tested in comparisons across closely related parasite species. Since male sexual rivalry is often regarded as the main cause of this phenomenon, the present study tests this rule in a taxon where sexual selection is almost totally absent in males. Body size data of (non-physogastric) female and male quill mites (Acari: Syringophilidae) were gathered from the literature to investigate this relationship. The data set consisted of 113 species representing 8 genera. For the data set as a whole, increasing body size came together with decreasing relative body size of males (relative to females), a phenomenon known as converse Rensch's rule. Repeating the same analysis for the 8 genera separately, similar patterns were found in 4 significant and 3 non-significant cases. There was a significant tendency to comply with Rensch's rule only in one genus, the Neoaulonastus. Thus, converse Rensch's rule is the primary trend in syringophilid quill mites that appears repeatedly and independently in several genera. This phenomenon is probably caused by their extreme inbreeding, which strongly reduces sexual competition among males in this taxon.