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Evolution of the male genitalia: morphological variation of the aedeagi in a natural population of Drosophila mediopunctata

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Abstract

To investigate the size and shape of the aedeagus of Drosophila mediopunctata, we used basic statistics and geometric morphometrics. We estimated the level of phenotypic variation, natural and laboratory heritability as well as the phenotypic correlations between aedeagus and wing measures. The wing was used as an indicator for both body size and shape. Positive significant correlation was obtained for centroid size of aedeagus and wing for field parents and their offspring reared in the laboratory. Many positive significant phenotypic correlations were found among linear measures of both organs. The phenotypic correlations were few for aedeagus and wing shape. Coefficients of variation of the measures were on average larger in the aedeagus than in the wing for offspring reared in laboratory, but not for flies coming from the field. Significant “natural” heritabilities were found for five linear measures of the aedeagus and only one for the wing. Few significant heritabilities were found for aedeagus and wing shape, mostly ones concerning the uniform components. In an exploratory analysis, we found that inversion DS-PC0 is associated with both uniform and nonuniform components of shape, respectively, in the wing and aedeagus. Our results do not support the lock-and-key hypothesis for the male genitalia evolution, but cannot refute the sexual selection and pleiotropy hypotheses.

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Abbreviations

\( {\text{h}}^{2}_{{\text{n}}} \) :

Natural heritability

\( {\text{h}}^{2}_{{{\text{lab}}}} \) :

Laboratory heritability

AHa, CGa, CIa, DHa, etc.:

Linear measures of the aedeagus

ABw, BCw, CDw, etc.:

Linear measures of the wing

RW:

Relative warp

Cs:

Centroid size

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Acknowledgements

It is a pleasure to thank Mary A. Heidi Dolder for her kind help with scanning electron micrographs; Wilma Nascimento de Souza for technical help and Ted Hogan for reviewing the English version of the manuscript. An anonymous reviewer made valuable comments on the manuscript. The administrators of Fundação José Pedro de Oliveira allowed us to collect at Mata Santa Genebra. This work was supported by Grants from: Programa Institucional de Capacitação Docente e Técnica (PICDT/Capes); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Técnico e Científico (CNPq); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de São Paulo (FAPESP); and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).

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  1. Departamento de Biologia Marinha, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niteroi, RJ, Brazil

    Carlos A. C. Andrade

  2. Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, UNICAMP, Cx. Postal 6109, Campinas, SP, 13083-070, Brazil

    R. D. Vieira, G. Ananina & Louis B. Klaczko

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  1. Carlos A. C. Andrade
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  2. R. D. Vieira
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  3. G. Ananina
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  4. Louis B. Klaczko
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Correspondence to Louis B. Klaczko.

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Andrade, C.A.C., Vieira, R.D., Ananina, G. et al. Evolution of the male genitalia: morphological variation of the aedeagi in a natural population of Drosophila mediopunctata . Genetica 135, 13–23 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-008-9247-9

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