Sex differences in fluctuating asymmetry of body traits in chewing lice Docophorulus coarctatus (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera)

Abstract

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) that reflects randomly directed deviations from bilateral symmetry has been shown to increase in organisms exposed to environmental and/or genetic stress. We studied fluctuating asymmetry in head and prothorax of chewing lice Docophorulus coarctatus, a parasite of the great grey shrike Lanius excubitor, to investigate associations between parasite body size and fluctuating asymmetry. Samples of ten individual lice (five females, five males) were randomly collected for measurements from 32 shrikes. Relative FA (scaled to trait size) was estimated for head and prothorax. Sex and trait differences in FA were very distinct (all differences significant at P<0.001). However, relative FA of head was not a predictor to relative FA of prothorax in either sex. Moreover, relative FA measurements of females and males from the same host were not significantly correlated, contrary to expectation if hosts imposed similar selection pressures on parasites of the two sexes. Relative FA of a trait was negatively related to its size, except for the relationship between relative FA of prothorax and prothorax in females. Differences in FA between traits may be explained by time when host condition affects louse developmental biology, with the head developing in a very short time during larval and nymph stages. The sex difference in asymmetry was probably related to different selection pressures by hosts on the sexes of the parasite, with females generally being under more intense selection.