Document of bibliographic reference 348337

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Parasitism-induced intersexuality in a sexually dimorphic varunid crab, Ptychognathus ishii (Decapoda: Varunidae)

Abstract

Although many animals that perform sexual reproduction exhibit sexual dimorphism, individuals with intersex traits between the traits of males and females appear in some species, depending on environmental factors. Ptychognathus ishii, a varunid crab, exhibits distinctive sexual dimorphism in the morphology of its abdomen, chelipeds and setal tufts on the chelipeds. In this study, however, we report for the first time that intersex individuals with intermediate characters between those of males and females were occasionally found in wild populations. Morphological features of intersex individuals are described. Their taxonomic positions are identified based on DNA sequences of part of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene. It was shown that the intersexuality was induced by entoniscid parasites, because all intersex individuals were parasitized by entoniscid isopods, identified as Entionella sp. The apparent correlation between parasitism and morphological anomalies suggests that the parasitic isopods affect physiological conditions, leading to the feminization of male hosts.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000703323300004

Bibliographic citation

Inui, N.; Oguchi, K.; Shinji, J.; Okanishi, M.; Shimomura, M.; Miura, T. (2021). Parasitism-induced intersexuality in a sexually dimorphic varunid crab, Ptychognathus ishii (Decapoda: Varunidae). Zool. Sci. 38(5): 416-426. https://dx.doi.org/10.2108/zs210049

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true