Female genitalia can evolve more rapidly and divergently than male genitalia.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Simmons LW
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6428859 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Female genitalia can evolve more rapidly and divergently than male genitalia.
Simmons Leigh W LW Fitzpatrick John L JL
Nature communications 20190321 1
Male genitalia exhibit patterns of divergent evolution driven by sexual selection. In contrast, for many taxonomic groups, female genitalia are relatively uniform and their patterns of evolution remain largely unexplored. Here we quantify variation in the shape of female genitalia across onthophagine dung beetles, and use new comparative methods to contrast their rates of divergence with those of male genitalia. As expected, male genital shape has diverged more rapidly than a naturally selected ...[more]
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