Beyond Rensch's Rule: Prevalent Female-Biased Size Dimorphism and Its Allometric Scaling in Cassidinae Beetles.

Body size is a key trait influencing life history and ecological adaptation, and sexual size dimorphism (SSD) reflects divergent selective pressures acting on males and females. In morphologically conserved insect groups such as Cassidinae leaf beetles, the external similarity between sexes often impedes accurate dimorphism assessment. To address this, we conducted a systematic morphometric study of ten Cassidinae species from the Nanling Mountains-the largest east-west mountain system in southern China-where we definitively assigned sex via genital dissection. We measured body weight, body length, body width, length-width ratio, and corresponding wing traits. Across all species, SSD was consistently female biased, with statistically significant but subtle differences in most traits; body weight exhibited the greatest relative disparity. While this pattern aligns with the fecundity advantage hypothesis, direct fecundity data were not collected. Crucially, interspecific allometric analyses revealed that the scaling of male and female body sizes was statistically indistinguishable from that of isometry, providing no significant support for Rensch's rule in this female-biased system. Our findings offer foundational insights into SSD evolution in cryptically dimorphic, herbivorous beetles and highlight the need for phylogenetically informed studies across broader geographic and taxonomic scales.