Functional Mechanics of Beetle Mandibles: Honest Signaling in a Sexually Sele…

Male stag beetles possess colossal mandibles, which they wield in combat to obtain access tofemales. As with many other sexually selected weapons, males with longer mandibles win more fights. However, variation in the functional morphology of these structures, used in male-male combat, is less well understood. In this study, mandible bite force, gape, structural strength, and potential tradeoff…