Data from: Causes of discordance between allometries at and above species-level: an example with aquatic beetles

Covariation among organismal traits is nearly universal, occurring both
within and among species (static and evolutionary allometry,
respectively). If conserved developmental processes produce similarity in
static and evolutionary allometry, then when species differ in
development, it should be expressed in discordance between allometries.
Here, we investigate whether rapidly evolving developmental processes
result in discordant static and evolutionary allometries attributable to
trade-offs in resource acquisition, allocation, or growth across 30
species of aquatic beetles. The highly divergent sperm phenotypes of these
beetles might be an important contributor to allometric evolution of
testis and accessory gland mass through altered requirements for the
production of sperm and seminal fluids. We documented extensive
discordance between static and evolutionary allometries, indicating that
allometric relationships are flexibly modified over short time periods but
subject to constraint over longer time spans. Among species, sperm
phenotype did not influence relative investment in accessory glands but
was weakly associated with investment in testes. Furthermore, except when
sperm were long and simple, sperm phenotype was not associated with
species-specific modification of the allometry of testis/accessory gland
mass and body size. Our results demonstrate the utility of allometric
discordance to infer species differences in the provisioning and growth of
concurrently developing traits.