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Genital morphology linked to social status in the bank vole (Myodes glareolus)

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Abstract

Since genital morphology can influence the outcome of post-copulatory sexual selection, differences in the genitalia of dominant and subordinate males could be a factor contributing to the fertilisation advantage of dominant males under sperm competition. Here we investigate for the first time if penile morphology differs according to male social status in a promiscuous mammal, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). In this species, dominant males typically achieve higher reproductive success than subordinates in post-copulatory sexual selection, and male genital morphology is complex, including both a baculum (os penis) and penile spines. Our results show that despite no difference in body size associated with male social status, baculum width is significantly larger in dominant male bank voles than in subordinates. We also found evidence of positive allometry and a relatively high coefficient of phenotypic variation in the baculum width of male bank voles, consistent with an influence of sexual selection. By contrast, baculum length and three measures of penile spinosity did not differ according to male social status or show evidence of positive allometry. We conclude that dominant male bank voles may benefit from an enlarged baculum under sperm competition and/or cryptic female choice and that differences in penile morphology according to male social status might be important but as yet largely unexplored source of variation in male reproductive success.

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Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to Meg Stark and Peter O’Toole from York University for the scanning electron microscopy. We thank Prof. Jane Hurst and all members of the Mammalian Behaviour and Evolution Group for useful feedback and discussion and A. Davidson, J. Fick, R. Humphries, S. Jopson and J. Waters for help in conducting the experiment. We are grateful to three anonymous referees for their thoughtful comments. JFL and SAR were supported by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust to PS (F/00 025/W).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR CNRS 5558, Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Jean-François Lemaître

  2. Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1, 4051, Basel, Switzerland

    Steven A. Ramm

  3. Mammalian Behaviour and Evolution Group, Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Neston, CH64 7TE, UK

    Jean-François Lemaître, Steven A. Ramm, Nicola Jennings & Paula Stockley

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  1. Jean-François Lemaître
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  2. Steven A. Ramm
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  4. Paula Stockley
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Correspondence to Jean-François Lemaître.

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Communicated by A. Schulte-Hostedde

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Lemaître, JF., Ramm, S.A., Jennings, N. et al. Genital morphology linked to social status in the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 66, 97–105 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-011-1257-4

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