Baculum shape complexity correlates to metrics of post-copulatory sexual selection in Musteloidea.

ABSTRACT: The penis bone, or baculum, is present in many orders of mammals, although its function is still relatively unknown, mainly due to the challenges with studying the baculum in vivo. Suggested functions include increasing vaginal friction, prolonging intromission and inducing ovulation. Since it is difficult to study baculum function directly, functional morphology can give important insights. Shape complexity techniques, in particular, are likely to offer a useful metric of baculum morphology, especially since finding homologous landmarks on such a structure is challenging. This study focuses on measuring baculum shape complexity in the Musteloidea-a large superfamily spanning a range of body sizes with well-developed, qualitatively diverse bacula. We compared two shape complexity metrics-a

SUBMITTER: Clear E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10952176 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature