Early embryonic determination of the sexual dimorphism in segment number in geophilomorph centipedes

Most geophilomorph centipedes show intraspecific variability in the number of leg-bearing segments. This intraspecific variability generally has a component that is related to sex, with females having on average more segments than males. Neither the developmental basis nor the adaptive role of this dimorphism is known.

To determine when this sexual dimorphism in segment number is established, we have followed the development of Strigamia maritima embryos from the onset of segmentation to the first post-embryonic stage where we could determine the sex morphologically. We find that males and females differ in segment number by Stage 6.1, a point during embryogenesis when segment addition pauses while the embryo undergoes large-scale movements. We have confirmed this pattern by establishing a molecular method to determine the sex of single embryos, utilising duplex PCR amplification for Y chromosomal and autosomal sequences. This confirms that male embryos have a modal number of 43 segments visible at Stage 6, while females have 45. In our Strigamia population, adult males have a modal number of 47 leg-bearing segments, and females have 49. This implies that the sexual dimorphism in segment number is determined before the addition of the last leg-bearing segments and the terminal genital segments.

Sexual dimorphism in segment number is not associated with terminal segment differentiation, but must instead be related to some earlier process during segment patterning. The dimorphism may be associated with a difference in the rate and/or duration of segment addition during the main phase of rapid segment addition that precedes embryonic Stage 6. This suggests that the adaptive role, if any, of the dimorphism is likely to be related to segment number per se, and not to sexual differentiation of the terminal region.