Sexual dimorphism in head size in wild burying beetles

The burying beetle (Nicrophorus vespilloides) is thought to be predominantly sexually monomorphic. Males carry an additional abdominal segment and produce pheromones, but otherwise the sexes are alike. Both sexes bear bright orange bands on their black elytra, which probably function as part of a warning display rather than in mate choice. In wild populations, the sexes do not differ in mean body size, nor in its variation.
Here we describe a form of sexual size dimorphism in wild populations that has previously been overlooked. We show that males have wider heads than females, for any given pronotum width (body size), and that the scaling relationship between head width and pronotum width is hyperallometric in males, but isometric in females. We also show how absolute head width, as well as the extent of sexual dimorphism in head width, differs among seven wild populations inhabiting different woodlands that are within c.10 km of each other. We suggest that head size dimorphism is func..., , , # Data from: Sexual dimorphism in head size in wild burying beetles (Nicrophorus vespilloides)

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t1g1jwt8j](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t1g1jwt8j)

Data file containing head width and pronotum width measurements for male and female burying beetles (*Nicrophorus vespilloides*) across seven woods at the intersection of Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Huntingdonshire (UK).

## Description of the data and file structure

'Wood' abbreviations (B = Buff; CH = Cockayne Hatley; G = Gamlingay; H = Hayley; P = Potton; W = Waresley; WV = Weaveley).
'Sex' abbreviations (M = Male; F = Female).
'Head width' and 'Pronotum width' in mm.