ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2020
Postcopulatory sexual selection and the evolution of shape complexity in the carnivoran baculum.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Radiographic reference values for canine baculum length: association with body-weight category in dogs aged at least 1 year.Veterinary research communications · 2026Article
- Commentary: The missing sabertooth baculum-At what point might the absence of evidence reasonably be considered evidence of absence?Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2025Article
- First description of the baubellum in the spectacled bear Tremarctos ornatus (Mammalia: Ursidae).Journal of anatomy · 2024Article
- Baculum shape complexity correlates to metrics of post-copulatory sexual selection in Musteloidea.Journal of morphology · 2023Article
- Fossil bacula of five species of Borophaginae (Family: Canidae): Implications for their reproductive biology.PloS one · 2023Article
- A Review and Case Study of 3D Imaging Modalities for Female Amniote Reproductive Anatomy.Integrative and comparative biology · 2022Article
- The baculum affects paternity success of first but not second males in house mouse sperm competition.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- The ultimate database to (re)set the evolutionary history of primate genital bones.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- 3D genital shape complexity in female marine mammals.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The baculum is an enigmatic bone within the mammalian glans penis, and the driving forces behind its often bizarre shape have captivated evolutionary biologists for over a century. Hypotheses for the function of the baculum include aiding in intromission, stimulating females and assisting with prolonged mating. Previous attempts to test these hypotheses have focused on the gross size of the baculum and have failed to reach a consensus. We conducted three-dimensional imaging and apply a new method to quantify three-dimensional shape complexity in the carnivoran baculum. We show that socially monogamous species are evolving towards complex-shaped bacula, whereas group-living species are evolving towards simple bacula. Overall three-dimensional baculum shape complexity is not related to relative testes mass, but tip complexity is higher in induced ovulators and species engaging in prolonged copulation. Our study provides evidence of postcopulatory sexual selection pressures driving three-dimensional shape complexity in the carnivore baculum.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.