Penis size and sperm quality,are all bats grey in the dark?  

作　　者：Nicolas Jean FASEL Marta KOIODZIEJ-SOBOCINSKA Ewa KOMAR Marcin ZEGAREK Ireneusz RUCZYNSKI 

机构地区：[1]Department of Evolutionary Ecology,Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research,Alfred-Kowalke-Strasse,Berlin,Germany [2]Mammal Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences,Biatowiez.a,Poland

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2019年第6期697-703,共7页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：This project was financed by the Swiss Science Foundation(grant nb.P2BEP3_168709);N.J.F.and by the National Science Center,Poland(grant nb.DEC-2013/10/E/NZ8/00725)。

摘　　要：Penises play a key role in sperm transport and in stimulating female genitals.This should impact post-copulatory competition,and expose penis characteristics to sexual selective pressures.Studies of male genitalia have repeatedly reported negative static allometries,which mean that,within species,large males have disproportionally small genitals when compared with smaller individuals.Males of some sperm-storing bat species may stand as an exception to such a pattern by arousing from hibernation to copulate with torpid females.The selection for large penises might take place,if a long organ provides advantages during post-copulatory competition and/or if females have evolved mechanisms allowing the choice of sire,relying on characters other than pre-copulatory traits(e.g.,penis size).In this study,we measured dimensions of the erected penis in 4 sperm-storing bat species.Furthermore,we collected sperm and evaluated the link between penis dimensions and sperm velocity.Our results revealed steep allometric slopes of the erected penis length in Barbastella barbastellus and an inverse allometry of penis head width in Myotis nattereri.More detailed studies of copulatory behavior are urgently needed to explain the range of observed scaling relations.Furthermore,penis head width correlates with sperm velocity in Plecotus auritus.For this last species,we propose that penis shape might act as a marker of male fertility.

关 键 词：Barbastella barbastellus GENITALIA honest signaling Myotis nattereri Plecotus auritus sperm competition sperm quality sperm velocity Vespertilio murinus. 

分 类 号：R69[医药卫生—泌尿科学]