Convergence, recurrence and diversification of complex sperm traits in diving beetles (Dytiscidae).

ABSTRACT: Sperm display remarkable morphological diversity among even closely related species, a pattern that is widely attributed to postcopulatory sexual selection. Surprisingly few studies have used phylogenetic analyses to discern the details of evolutionary diversification in ornaments and armaments subject to sexual selection, and the origins of novel sperm traits and their subsequent modification are particularly poorly understood. Here we investigate sperm evolution in diving beetles (Dytiscidae), revealing dramatic diversification in flagellum length, head shape, presence of sperm heteromorphism, and the presence/type of sperm conjugation, an unusual trait where two or more sperm unite for motility or transport. Sperm conjugation was found to be the ancestral condition in diving beetles, wi

SUBMITTER: Higginson DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3775504 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature