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5 - Phallic Structure and Function

from Part III - The Evolution of Reproduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2021

Alan F. Dixson
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington
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Summary

When Arthur Walton wrote these words, which appeared in the third edition of Marshall’s Physiology of Reproduction, he was unable to account for the evolutionary basis of phallic diversity in mammals, some examples of which are shown in Figure 5.1. Indeed, prior to the application of sexual selection theory to this problem (Eberhard, 1985, 1996; Parker, 1970), the presence of so much variability among male invertebrates, and among the vertebrates as a whole, had remained a mystery. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the various reasons for phallic morphological diversity, including the role that copulatory and post-copulatory sexual selection may have played in this context.

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Mammalian Sexuality
The Act of Mating and the Evolution of Reproduction
, pp. 111 - 154
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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