Baculum shape and paternity success in house mice: evidence for genital coevolution.

ABSTRACT: Sexual selection is believed to be responsible for the rapid divergence of male genitalia, which is a widely observed phenomenon across different taxa. Among mammals, the stimulatory role of male genitalia and female 'sensory perception' has been suggested to explain these evolutionary patterns. Recent research on house mice has shown that baculum (penis bone) shape can respond to experimentally imposed sexual selection. Here, we explore the adaptive value of baculum shape by performing two experiments that examine the effects of male and female genitalia on male reproductive success. Thus, we selected house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) from families characterized by extremes in baculum shape (relative width) and examined paternity success in both non-competitive (monogamous) and

SUBMITTER: Andre GI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7661450 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature