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Sexual selection targets cetacean pelvic bones.

James P Dines1, Erik Otárola-Castillo, Peter Ralph

  • 1Mammalogy, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, 90007; Integrative and Evolutionary Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 90089.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|September 5, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sexual selection drives rapid evolution in male genitalia and associated pelvic bone anatomy in whales and dolphins. Intense sexual selection correlates with larger penises and pelvic bones, indicating functional evolutionary pressures.

Keywords:
Morphological evolutionsexual conflictsexual selection

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Comparative Anatomy
  • Sexual Selection

Background:

  • Male genitalia exhibit rapid evolutionary rates, likely driven by sexual selection.
  • The internal anatomical structures influencing male genitalia function are less understood.
  • Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) possess reduced pelvic bones, potentially linked to penile muscle attachment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the evolutionary patterns of cetacean pelvic bone size and shape.
  • To determine if sexual selection influences the evolution of internal genital anatomy.
  • To test the hypothesis that pelvic bones in cetaceans are maintained by functions related to mating.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a novel morphometric pipeline for analyzing pelvic bone morphology.
  • Examined pelvic bone size and shape in 130 individuals across 29 cetacean species.
  • Correlated morphological data with inferred mating systems and relative testes size.

Main Results:

  • Males from species with higher sexual selection (inferred from testes size) show larger penises and pelvic bones relative to body length.
  • Pelvic bone shape divergence is greater in species pairs with differing inferred mating systems.
  • No similar patterns were observed in the anterior-most vertebral ribs, serving as a negative control.

Conclusions:

  • Sexual selection significantly impacts the evolution of internal anatomy controlling male genitalia in cetaceans.
  • The functional role in maneuvering the penis likely explains the retention of pelvic bones in cetaceans.
  • This study provides evidence for the evolutionary influence of sexual selection on internal anatomical structures.