The handicap hypothesis of sexual selection predicts that sexual ornaments have evolved
heightened condition–dependent expression. The prediction has only recently been subject …

Most semiterrestrial, intertidal and shallow subtidal brachyuran crabs that live in tropical and
warm temperate estuaries, bays and protected coasts world-wide release their planktonic …

Animals often need to signal to attract mates and behavioural signalling may impose
substantial energetic and fitness costs to signallers. Consequently, individuals often …

1. Sexually selected structures with dual function of combat and display are likely to be
honest signals of male quality to opponents and mates, but should be costly to produce and …

Reproductively active males of the sand fiddler crab Uca pugilator are routinely exposed to
high body temperatures and desiccation while defending breeding-burrows from other …

Female choice can impose persistent directional selection on male sexually selected traits,
yet such traits often exhibit high levels of phenotypic variation. One explanation for this …

Brachyuran crabs comprise the most species-rich clade among the crustacean order
Decapoda and are divided into several major superfamilies. However, the monophyly of the …

Coastal ecosystems, including tidal flats, are exposed to recreational activity-driven
trampling. The white-clawed fiddler crab, Austruca lactea, is endangered in South Korea …

In mid-Atlantic salt marshes, reproductively active male sand fiddler crabs, Uca pugilator,
use a single greatly enlarged major claw as both a weapon to defend specialized breeding …

Biologists have known for decades that many traits involved in competition for mates or other
resources and that influence mate choice are exaggerated, and their expression is …