Abstract—Sexual dimorphism is a widespread phenomenon among groups of animals that describes variation in morphology between individuals of different sexes. Differences in wing shape morphology between sexes of the same species of insects often reflects disparity in flight performance and flight range which might be of considerable significance in the monitoring and control of pest species. This study was conducted to determine the differences in wing morphology between sexes of coconut hispid beetle (Brontispa longissima) by looking at the variations in the shapes of the entire wing using geometric morphometrics. The results obtained showed noticeable variation in the left and right inner wings between female and male samples as shown in the relative warp analysis. Discriminant function analysis, MANOVA/CVA scores, and Kruskal-Wallis test showed statistically significant variation between sexes establishing the presence of sexual dimorphism within the species of coconut hispid beetles.

Index Terms—B. longissima, geometric morphometrics, sexual dimorphism, wing morphology.

The authors are with the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics, MSU – Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan City, Philippines (e-mail: bryangeorge.belleza@gmail.com, cgdemayo@gmail.com).

Cite: Bryan George D. Belleza and Cesar G. Demayo, "Describing Sexual Dimorphism in Inner Wings of Brontispa longissima Using Landmark Based Geometric Morphometric Analysis," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 391-396, 2014.