Dataset Information

The innervation of the male copulatory organ of spiders (Araneae) - a comparative analysis.

ABSTRACT: Background:Nervous tissue is an inherent component of the many specialized genital structures for transferring sperm directly into the female's body. However, the male copulatory organ of spiders was considered a puzzling exception. Based on the recent discovery of nervous tissue in the pedipalps of two distantly related spider species, we investigated representatives of all major groups across the spider tree of life for the presence of palpal nerves. We used a correlative approach that combined histology, micro-computed tomography and electron microscopy. Results:We show that the copulatory organ is innervated in all species investigated. There is a sensory organ at the base of the sperm transferring sclerite in several taxa and nervous tissue occurs close to the glandular tissue of the spermophor, where sperm are stored before transfer. Conclusions:The innervation of the copulatory organ by the bulb nerve and associated efferent fibers is part of the ground pattern of spiders. Our findings pave the way for unraveling the sensory interaction of genitalia during mating and for the still enigmatic mode of uptake and release of sperm from the male copulatory organ.

SUBMITTER: Dederichs TM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6813115 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The innervation of the male copulatory organ of spiders (Araneae) - a comparative analysis.

Dederichs Tim M TM Müller Carsten H G CHG Sentenská Lenka L Lipke Elisabeth E Uhl Gabriele G Michalik Peter P

Frontiers in zoology 20191024

<h4>Background</h4>Nervous tissue is an inherent component of the many specialized genital structures for transferring sperm directly into the female's body. However, the male copulatory organ of spiders was considered a puzzling exception. Based on the recent discovery of nervous tissue in the pedipalps of two distantly related spider species, we investigated representatives of all major groups across the spider tree of life for the presence of palpal nerves. We used a correlative approach that ...[more]

PMID: 31666802

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Project description:BackgroundHabronattus is a diverse clade of jumping spiders with complex courtship displays and repeated evolution of Y chromosomes. A well-resolved species phylogeny would provide an important framework to study these traits, but has not yet been achieved, in part because the few genes available in past studies gave conflicting signals. Such discordant gene trees could be the result of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) in recently diverged parts of the phylogeny, but there are indications that introgression could be a source of conflict.ResultsTo infer Habronattus phylogeny and investigate the cause of gene tree discordance, we assembled transcriptomes for 34 Habronattus species and 2 outgroups. The concatenated 2.41 Mb of nuclear data (1877 loci) resolved phylogeny by Maximum Likelihood (ML) with high bootstrap support (95-100%) at most nodes, with some uncertainty surrounding the relationships of H. icenoglei, H. cambridgei, H. oregonensis, and Pellenes canadensis. Species tree analyses by ASTRAL and SVDQuartets gave almost completely congruent results. Several nodes in the ML phylogeny from 12.33 kb of mitochondrial data are incongruent with the nuclear phylogeny and indicate possible mitochondrial introgression: the internal relationships of the americanus and the coecatus groups, the relationship between the altanus, decorus, banksi, and americanus group, and between H. clypeatus and the coecatus group. To determine the relative contributions of ILS and introgression, we analyzed gene tree discordance for nuclear loci longer than 1 kb using Bayesian Concordance Analysis (BCA) for the americanus group (679 loci) and the VCCR clade (viridipes/clypeatus/coecatus/roberti groups) (517 loci) and found signals of introgression in both. Finally, we tested specifically for introgression in the concatenated nuclear matrix with Patterson's D statistics and DFOIL. We found nuclear introgression resulting in substantial admixture between americanus group species, between H. roberti and the clypeatus group, and between the clypeatus and coecatus groups.ConclusionsOur results indicate that the phylogenetic history of Habronattus is predominantly a diverging tree, but that hybridization may have been common between phylogenetically distant species, especially in subgroups with complex courtship displays.

Dataset Information

The innervation of the male copulatory organ of spiders (Araneae) - a comparative analysis.

Publications

The innervation of the male copulatory organ of spiders (Araneae) - a comparative analysis.

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