Copulation duration varies considerably across species, but few comparative studies have examined factors that might underlie such variation. We examined the relationship between copulation duration (prior to spermatophore transfer), the complexity of titillators (sclerotized male genital contact structures), spermatophore mass and male body mass across 54 species of bushcricket. Using phylogen...

There has been a recent burst of studies of the function of genitalia, many of which share several important shortcomings. Given that further studies on this topic are likely (there are probably millions of species showing rapid genital divergence), I discuss the studies critically to promote clear formulation of hypotheses and interpretation of results in the future. I also emphasize some poss...

Several signaling pathways work together, via a protein called Amotl2a, to establish the size and shape of a zebrafish sense organ primordium.

We have isolated a Drosophila mutant where the lateral parts of the notum are completely naked, leaving unaffected a median stripe of hairs. This mutation, iroquois (iro), defines a new gene which maps at 69D. We show that, in the presumptive lateral notum of mutant discs, sense organ precursor cells fail to form and the proneural gene scute is not expressed. The expression of a reporter gene i...