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Sexual Selection Within the Female Genitalia in Lepidoptera

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Cryptic Female Choice in Arthropods

Abstract

The genitalia of male and female Lepidoptera are complex organs, composed of several structures that exhibit great diversity of shapes, sizes, and positions, suggesting that they have evolved in a relatively rapid and divergent way. In this chapter, we explore the selective pressures responsible for the evolution of genital morphology in the Lepidoptera , emphasizing the possible role of post-copulatory intersexual selection (PCIS) mechanisms (cryptic female choice and sexual conflict). Our exploration is in great extent speculative because knowledge on the functional morphology of genitalia in this group is limited. We start by describing the complexity and diversity of genitalia in Lepidoptera, discussing the available information about the role of the different structures in copulation. Then, we discuss possible ways in which PCIS and other types of selective pressures could have influenced the evolution of genitalia by developing illustrative hypothesis for several structures whose function is not well understood. Finally, we describe in detail recent experimental and comparative studies aimed at understanding the function and selective pressures responsible for the evolution of a female genital trait known as signum.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Galicia et al. (2008) also mention that there is evidence suggesting that in some species, signa could play different or additional functions. For example, in some species, the signa is shaped like one or more relatively large plates that could protect the corpus bursae from the damage that cornuti could inflict (see Ferris 2004 for a possible example). These alternatives need to be studied.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Laura Sirot for very useful comments on a previous version of the manuscript. CC thanks Jaime Camacho and Raúl Martínez for technical help and PAPIIT/DGAPA (IN208413) for financial support. JB contribution was supported by project BFU2012-39816-CO2-01 of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad.

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  1. Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D.F., Mexico City, Mexico

    Carlos Cordero

  2. Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, Universidad de Valencia, Paterna, Spain

    Joaquín Baixeras

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Correspondence to Carlos Cordero .

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  1. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal, CONICET—Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Cordoba, Argentina

    Alfredo V. Peretti

  2. Laboratorio de Etología, Ecología y Evolución, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Anita Aisenberg

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Cordero, C., Baixeras, J. (2015). Sexual Selection Within the Female Genitalia in Lepidoptera. In: Peretti, A., Aisenberg, A. (eds) Cryptic Female Choice in Arthropods. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17894-3_12

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