  In this letter we present a study of the size luminosity relation of 475
early-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster with Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging
data. The analysis of our homogeneous, model-independent data set reveals that
giant and dwarf early-type galaxies do not form one common sequence in this
relation. The dwarfs seem to show weak or no dependence on luminosity, and do
not fall on the extension of the rather steep relation of the giants. Under the
assumption that the light profile shape varies continuously with magnitude, a
curved relation of size and magnitude would be expected. While the galaxies do
roughly follow this trend overall, we find that the dwarf galaxies are
significantly larger and the low-luminosity giants are significantly smaller
than what is predicted. We come to the conclusion that in this scaling relation
there is not one common sequence from dwarfs to giants, but a dichotomy which
can not be resolved by varying profile shapes. The comparison of our data to a
semi-analytic model supports the idea of a physical origin of this dichotomy.
