Developmental asynchrony and antagonism of sex determination pathways in a lizard with temperature-induced sex reversal.

ABSTRACT: Vertebrate sex differentiation follows a conserved suite of developmental events: the bipotential gonads differentiate and shortly thereafter sex specific traits become dimorphic. However, this may not apply to squamates, a diverse vertebrate lineage comprising of many species with thermosensitive sexual development. Of the three species with data on the relative timing of gonad differentiation and genital dimorphism, the females of two (Niveoscincus ocellatus and Barisia imbricata) exhibit a phase of temporary pseudohermaphroditism or TPH (gonads have differentiated well before genital dimorphism). We report a third example of TPH in Pogona vitticeps, an agamid with temperature-induced male to female sex reversal. These findings suggest that for female squamates, genital and gonad develop

SUBMITTER: Whiteley SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6173690 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature