Sexual selection can lead to rapid evolution of sexual traits and striking morphological diversity across taxa. In populations where competition for mates is intense, males sometimes evolve distinct behavioral strategies along with morphological differences that help them secure mating opportunities. Strong postcopulatory selection and differential resource allocation across male strategy type can result in strategy‐specific differences in sexual traits, such as sperm morphology, ejaculate components, and testis size. Some polymorphic species also have strategy‐specific genital morphology. Thus far, among vertebrates, this has only been observed in fish. Here, we present the first morphological description of the intromittant copulatory organ, the hemipenis, of the three mating types of the side‐blotched lizard,
- Award ID(s):
- 1655840
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10182356
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Genome Biology and Evolution
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 1759-6653
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1838 to 1846
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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