Sensory trap as the mechanism of sexual selection in a damselfly genitalic trait (Insecta: Calopterygidae)

The American Naturalist
A Córdoba-Aguilar

Abstract

During copulation, males of some calopterygid damselfly species displace the sperm stored in the spermatheca: the male genital appendages enter into the spermathecal ducts and physically remove sperm. In Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis, the genital appendages are too wide to penetrate the spermathecae, but males use a different mechanism in which the aedeagus stimulates the vaginal sensilla that control spermathecal sperm release. Since these sensilla are used during egg fertilization and oviposition, it was hypothesized that this function evolved before the male stimulatory ability. I investigated this using Hetaerina cruentata, a species whose position in the Calopterygidae phylogeny is more basal than Calopteryx. Given this position and having determined that males of this species are not able to displace sperm of their conspecific females during copulation, it was expected that H. cruentata females would eject sperm when stimulated with the aedeagi of C. haemorrhoidalis but not when stimulated with the aedeagi of their conspecifics. This prediction was confirmed. In order to investigate the widespread nature of this result, some other Calopteryx species-Calopteryx xanthostoma and Calopteryx virgo-were investigated. The results w...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 17, 2006·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·David J Hosken, Paula Stockley
Jan 23, 2013·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Charlotta Kvarnemo, Leigh W Simmons
Jan 27, 2005·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·A Córdoba-Aguilar
Apr 9, 2014·SpringerPlus·Kaori Tsuchiya, Fumio Hayashi
Feb 21, 2009·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Rebecca C Fuller
Jun 23, 2007·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·Y Takami, T Sota
Jul 3, 2016·Integrative and Comparative Biology·Clarissa M HouseDavid J Hosken
Nov 4, 2004·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·William G Eberhard
Mar 26, 2005·Nature·Constantino Macías Garcia, Elvia Ramirez
Jul 4, 2019·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·Nadia S Sloan, Leigh W Simmons
Jan 1, 2020·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Clarissa HouseJohn Hunt
Nov 7, 2018·Nature Reviews. Urology·David J HoskenNina Wedell
Jan 3, 2021·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Clarissa M HouseDavid J Hosken

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