Unlocking the "Black box": internal female genitalia in Sepsidae (Diptera) evolve fast and are species-specific.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The species-specificity of male genitalia has been well documented in many insect groups and sexual selection has been proposed as the evolutionary force driving the often rapid, morphological divergence. The internal female genitalia, in sharp contrast, remain poorly studied. Here, we present the first comparative study of the internal reproductive system of Sepsidae. We test the species-specificity of the female genitalia by comparing recently diverged sister taxa. We also compare the rate of change in female morphological characters with the rate of fast-evolving, molecular and behavioral characters.

Results

We describe the ectodermal parts of the female reproductive tract for 41 species representing 21 of the 37 described genera and define 19 morphological cha

SUBMITTER: Puniamoorthy N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2944183 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature