The male sexual apparatus in the order Scorpiones (Arachnida): a comparative study of functional morphology as a tool to define hypotheses of homology.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Insemination in scorpions is carried out by means of a partly sclerotized structure, the spermatophore, which is composed of two separate halves, the hemispermatophores. In most genera these reproductive structures can be used to differentiate species. However, many taxa such as the genus Euscorpius and the family Diplocentridae lack the morphological diversity observed in the copulatory organs of many other arthropods, rendering them useless for species level taxonomy. Such structural stasis, however, suggests that hemispermatophores have evolved relatively slowly and may thus provide a stronger phylogenetic signal for recognizing supra-generic ranks than previously thought. Based on the postulate that the phenotypic stability observed in some groups is the conse

SUBMITTER: Monod L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5699194 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature