Reddish male swallows have short sperm

Sexual selection favors the evolution of pre-copulatory sexual traits such as ornamentation and post-copulatory sexual traits such as long sperm, but the interrelationships of the two types of sexual traits remain unclear. Here, using Japanese barn swallows, Hirundo rustica gutturalis, and an inters...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of ethology Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 85 - 89
Main Authors Hasegawa, Masaru, Arai, Emi, Nakamura, Masahiko
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Tokyo Springer Japan 01.01.2022
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Animal behavior
Animal Ecology
Antioxidants
Behavioral Sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Coloration
Evolutionary Biology
Life Sciences
Pheomelanin
Plumage
Sexual selection
Short Communication
Sperm
Zoology
Tail feather length
Plumage ornaments
Sperm size
Pheomelanin-based pigmentation
Phylogenetic comparative approach
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Summary:Sexual selection favors the evolution of pre-copulatory sexual traits such as ornamentation and post-copulatory sexual traits such as long sperm, but the interrelationships of the two types of sexual traits remain unclear. Here, using Japanese barn swallows, Hirundo rustica gutturalis, and an interspecific analysis of the family Hirundinidae , we examined sperm length in relation to pheomelanin-based plumage coloration. As predicted by the fact that pheomelanogenesis consumes antioxidants, which would be detrimental to develop long sperm, reddish coloration (but not other ornaments) were negatively related to sperm length both within and across species, suggesting an evolutionary tradeoff between these traits.
ISSN:0289-0771
1439-5444
DOI:10.1007/s10164-021-00726-x