Testing Morphological Relationships between Female and Male Copulatory Structures in Bats
Testing Morphological Relationships between Female and Male Copulatory Structures in Bats
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测试蝙蝠雌性和雄性交配结构之间的形态关系
DOI：
10.1093/icb/icac040
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发表时间：
2022
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Brennan, Patricia L. R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Orr, Teri J.;Lukitsch, Theresa;Eiting, Thomas P.;Brennan, Patricia L. R.
雌性哺乳动物的下生殖道具有多种相互竞争的功能，包括交配、维持生殖道健康和分娩。多样的阴道解剖表明自然选择和性选择之间存在相互作用，然而，尽管其重要性，雌性交配形态仍未得到充分研究。我们在种类丰富的哺乳动物翼手目（蝙蝠）中进行了一项比较研究，重点研究了阳翼手目（蝙蝠亚目），以研究雌性阴道特征如何与雄性阴茎形态共同进化，以尽量减少交配过程中对其组织的机械损伤。阴茎形态多样，表现出交配后性选择和与雌性形态共同进化的巨大潜力，但阴道尚未被仔细研究。在这里，我们测试了阴道厚度和胶原蛋白密度与男性阴茎特征共同进化的假设，包括脊柱和阴茎骨的存在。本文报道了蝙蝠7科24种雌性的组织学资料，以及相应的雄性阴茎解剖资料。我们还研究了系统发育历史在我们观察到的形态模式中的作用。我们发现证据表明，女性阴道的厚度与阴茎刺的存在共同进化，但与阴茎骨的存在或宽度无关。胶原蛋白密度不随男性阴茎特征而变化。我们的研究结果强调了考虑性别之间的相互作用在影响功能性生殖结构中的重要性，并研究了这些结构在蝙蝠中是如何被选择的。
The lower reproductive tract of female mammals has several competing functions including mating, tract health maintenance, and parturition. Diverse vaginal anatomy suggests interactions between natural and sexual selection, yet despite its importance, female copulatory morphology remains under-studied. We undertook a comparative study across the species-rich mammalian order Chiroptera (bats) with a focus on the suborder Yangochiroptera (Vespertilioniformes) to examine how female vaginal features may have coevolved with male penis morphology to minimize mechanical damage to their tissues during copulation. The penis morphology is diverse, presenting great potential for post-copulatory sexual selection and coevolution with the female morphology, but vaginas have not been carefully examined. Here we test the hypotheses that vaginal thickness and collagen density have coevolved with features of the male penis, including the presence of spines and a baculum. We present histological data from females of 24 species from 7 families of bats, and corresponding data on male penis anatomy. We also examine the role of phylogenetic history in the morphological patterns we observe. We found evidence that female vaginal thickness has coevolved with the presence of penile spines, but not with baculum presence or width. Collagen density did not appear to covary with male penile features. Our findings highlight the importance of considering interactions between the sexes in influencing functional reproductive structures and examine how these structures have been under selection in bats.