Data from: Sexual selection maintains a female-specific character in a species with dynamic sex roles

The effects of sexual selection are more conspicuous among male animals,
and as a result the majority of sexual selection research focuses on
males. However, burgeoning evidence suggests that sexual selection also
acts on females, and there have been calls for an increased focus on
females. Here, we used a multivariate approach to analyze sexual selection
in Kawanaphila nartee, a spermatophore gift-giving bushcricket with
dynamic sex roles. Early in the breeding season females compete for males,
and later, when environmental food resources are more abundant, sex roles
revert to Darwinian convention. Ear size, which is much greater in females
than in males, has been suggested to affect female fitness, as females
with larger ears are more likely to reach calling males first under sex
role reversed conditions. We tested this suggestion and found evidence of
positive linear and nonlinear correlational selection acting on female ear
size early in the breeding season (under reversed sex roles), but not
later in the breeding season (under Darwinian sex roles). Interestingly,
there was no correlation between mating success and reproductive success
(Bateman gradient) at any time during the season. Together, our results
indicate that even brief and circumscribed periods of intrasexual
competition among females can lead to sexual selection on morphological
characters, and that this selection may not depend on multiple mating.
Considering the wealth of reports in the literature of brief episodes of
intrasexual competition among female animals, we recommend increased study
of sexual selection acting on females.