The Sepsidae contain more than 300 species with elaborate morphology and behavior. The males often have elaborate structures that are used to grasp the female wingbase and/or court the female while mounted. But how expensive is it to produce these structures? In this project, we quantify the developmental cost of producing a male. We are determining the development times for males and females in a variety of species from different genera. If males are expensive to build, they should either have longer develoment times and/or be smaller than females. Furthermore, the developmental cost should be correlated to the amount of male ornamentation.
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