Does sexual size dimorphism vary with hours of sunshine throughout the year in forest millipedes Centrobolus Cook, 1897?

Abstract

Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and body size vary with abiotic factors in millipedes. Seasonality was associated with body size and SSD in the forest millipede genus Centrobolus to test for seasonality and a correlation between SSD and daylight hours throughout the year. There was a significant negative correlation between SSD and daylight hours throughout the year (r=0.46, Z score=2.17, n=22, p=0.02). C. albitarsus has the highest SSD (2.89 female-biased) and occurs in the month with low hours of sunlight throughout the year (2690.72 hours) whereas SSD was second-lowest in C. promontorius (0.69 male-biased) which occurred in very high (3087.04 hours) hours of sunlight throughout the year. SSD correlated with year-round sunlight hours differently to year-round sunlight hours with the highest sunlight hours per month (z=0.75, p