Abstract
In animals with multiple-partner mating systems, the gametes of two or more males must compete to fertilize a given set of ova1,2,3,4,5. Here we show that the volume of the midpiece in individual sperm is significantly greater in primate species in which the females mate with multiple partners, and in which males have larger testes in relation to their body weight, than in those species that mate with only one partner and have relatively small testes. Our results indicate that sexual selection by sperm competition has influenced the evolution of a specific component of male-gamete morphology, the volume of the sperm midpiece.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 52 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.83 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Parker, G. A. in Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Animal Mating Systems (ed. Smith, R. L.) 1–60 (Academic, Orlando, 1984).
Birkhead, T. R. & Møller, A. P. Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection (Academic, London, 1998).
Short, R. V. Adv. Study Behav. 9, 131–158 (1979).
Harcourt, A. H., Harvey, P. H., Larson, S. G. & Short, R. V. Nature 293, 55–57 (1981).
Birkhead, T. R. Promiscuity: An Evolutionary History of Sperm Competition and Sexual Conflict (Faber & Faber, London, 2000).
Dixson, A. F. Primate Sexuality: Comparative Studies of the Prosimians, Monkeys, Apes and Human Beings (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1998).
Smuts, B. B., Cheney, D. L., Seyfarth, R. M., Wrangham, R. W. & Struhsaker, T. T. Primate Societies (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987).
Purvis, A. & Rambout, A. Cabios 11, 247–251 (1995).
Woolley, D. M. & Beatty, R. A. Nature 215, 94–95 (1967).
Cardullo, R. A. & Baltz, J. M. Cell. Motil. Cytoskeleton 19, 180–188 (1991).
Katz, D. F. & Drobnis, E. Z. in Fertilization in Mammals (eds Bavister, B. D., Cummins, J. & Roldan, E. R. S.) 125–137 (Serono Symp., Norwell, Massachusetts, 1990).
Froman, D. P. & Feltmann, A. J. Biol. Reprod. 58, 379–384 (1998).
Birkhead, T. R., Martinez, J. G., Burke, T. & Froman, D. P. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 266, 1759–1764 (1999).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Anderson, M., Dixson, A. Motility and the midpiece in primates. Nature 416, 496 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/416496a
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/416496a
