© 2007 The Authors Journal compilation © 2007 The Royal Entomological Society 243

Sexual size dimorphism (SSD), defined as the inequality of body sizes of the two sexes, is a widespread phenomenon among different groups of animals ( Shine, 1989; Fairbairn, 1997; Badyaev, 2002; Blanckenhorn, 2005). Females are the larger se