i
Asymmetric and Spiraled Genitalia Coevolve with Unique Lateralized Mating Behavior
-
2020
Source: Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 24;10(1):3257.
Details:
-
Journal Title:Scientific Reports
-
Personal Author:
-
NOAA Program & Office:
-
Description:Asymmetric genitalia and lateralized mating behaviors occur in several taxa, yet whether asymmetric morphology in one sex correlates or coevolves with lateralized mating behavior in the other sex remains largely unexplored. While lateralized mating behaviors are taxonomically widespread, among mammals they are only known in the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Males attempt copulation by approaching a female exclusively on her left side. To understand if this unusual lateralized behavior may have coevolved with genital morphology, we quantified the shape of female and male harbor porpoise reproductive tracts using 2D geometric morphometrics and 3D models of the vaginal lumen and inflated distal penis. We found that the vaginas varied individually in shape and that the vaginas demonstrated both significant directional and fluctuating asymmetry. This asymmetry resulted from complex 3D spirals and vaginal folds with deep recesses, which may curtail the depth or direction of penile penetration and/or semen movement. The asymmetric shapes of the vaginal lumen and penis tip were both left-canted with similar angular bends that mirrored one another and correspond with the left lateral mating approach. We suggest that the reproductive anatomy of both sexes and their lateral mating behavior coevolved.
-
Keywords:
-
Source:Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 24;10(1):3257.
-
Pubmed ID:32094449
-
Pubmed Central ID:PMC7039966
-
Document Type:
-
Rights Information:CC BY
-
Compliance:PMC
-
Main Document Checksum:urn:sha256:a5030339f5b294a12935afc0f768d3fa172388e8809f768333e923620fa75b28
-
File Type:
Supporting Files
-
No Additional Files
More +
Related Documents
-
Personal Author:Grandy, Jonathan James ;Onat, Bora...2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 28;10(1):1360.Description:Current methods for biochemical and biogeochemical analysis of the deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems rely on water sample recovery, or in situ ana...2020 | Nat Commun. 2020 Jul 20;11(1):3632.Description:Water stressed regions rely heavily on the import of water-intensive goods to offset insufficient food production driven by socioeconomic and environm...Personal Author:Giron-Nava, Alfredo ;Munch, Stephan B....2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 24;10(1):6977.Description:The systematic substitution of direct observational data with synthesized data derived from models during the stock assessment process has emerged as ...Personal Author:Francis, Jennifer A. ;Skific, Natasa...2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 11;10(1):14953.Description:Extreme weather events in Asia have been occurring with increasing frequency as the globe warms in response to rising concentrations of greenhouse gas...Persisting volcanic ash particles impact stratospheric SO2 lifetime and aerosol optical propertiesCite2020 | Nat Commun. 2020 Sep 10;11(1):4526.Description:Volcanic ash is often neglected in climate simulations because ash particles are assumed to have a short atmospheric lifetime, and to not participate ...Daily Satellite Observations of Methane from Oil and Gas Production Regions in the United StatesCite2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 28;10(1):1379.Description:Production of oil and natural gas in North America is at an all-time high due to the development and use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturi...On the interchangeability of sea-surface and near-surface air temperature anomalies in climatologiesCitePersonal Author:Rubino, Angelo ;Zanchettin, Davide...2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 May 4;10(1):7433.Description:On global and hemispheric scales, sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies are assumed to be good surrogates for near-surface marine air temperature (M...2020 | Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 1;11(1):4834.Description:Atmospheric ice nucleating particles (INPs) influence global climate by altering cloud formation, lifetime, and precipitation efficiency. The role of ...Personal Author:Tagklis, Filippos ;Bracco, A....2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Oct 15;10(1):17489.Description:Submesoscale structures fill the ocean surface, and recent numerical simulations and indirect observations suggest that they may extend to the ocean i...2020 | Nat Commun. 2020 Sep 28;11(1):4887.Description:The rise in the availability of bacterial genomes defines a need for synthesis: abstracting from individual taxa, to see larger patterns of bacterial ...2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 11;10(1):2314.Description:Low catch limits for forage species are often considered to be precautionary measures that can help conserve marine predators. Difficulties measuring ...Personal Author:Szesciorka, Angela R. ;Ballance, Lisa T....2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 May 7;10(1):7710.Description:Blue whales need to time their migration from their breeding grounds to their feeding grounds to avoid missing peak prey abundances, but the cues they...Personal Author:Lee, Li Keat ;Lim, Zhen Fei...2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 9;10(1):11251.Description:Microhabitats influence the distribution and abundance of benthic harmful dinoflagellate (BHAB) species. Currently, much of the information on the rel...Personal Author:Cascão, Irma ;Lammers, Marc O....2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 27;10(1):3610.Description:Several seamounts have been identified as hotspots of marine life in the Azores, acting as feeding stations for top predators, including cetaceans. Pa...Risk of shoreline hardening and associated beach loss peaks before mid-century: Oʻahu, HawaiʻiCitePersonal Author:Tavares, Kammie-Dominique ;Fletcher, Charles H....2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Aug 12;10(1):13633.Description:Shoreline hardening, which causes beach loss globally, will accelerate with sea level rise (SLR), causing more beach loss if management practices are ...Personal Author:Forsman, Z. H. ;Ritson-Williams, R....2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 Oct 12;10(1):16995.Description:The 'species' is a key concept for conservation and evolutionary biology, yet the lines between population and species-level variation are often blurr...Personal Author:Houk, Peter ;Yalon, Anthony...2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 May 8;10(1):7735.Description:El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events modulate oceanographic processes that control temperature and productivity in tropical waters, yet potenti...2020 | Nat Commun. 2020 Jul 3;11(1):3319.Description:The movement of tropical cyclones (TCs), particularly around the time of landfall, can substantially affect the resulting damage. Recently, trends in ...2020 | Nat Commun. 2020 May 12;11(1):2372.Description:Microplastics are ubiquitous in estuarine, coastal, and deep sea sediments. The impacts of microplastics on sedimentary microbial ecosystems and bioge...Personal Author:Andersson, Erik R. ;Stewart, Joseph A....2020 | Sci Rep. 2020 May 19;10(1):8252.Description:Coral growth anomalies (GAs) are tumor-like lesions that are detrimental to colony fitness and are commonly associated with high human population dens...
More +