Scientific Correspondence
Nature 391, 647 (12 February 1998) | doi:10.1038/35527
Sex and violence in hermaphrodites
N. K. Michiels1 & L. J. Newman2
Differences in objectives between males and females are a driving force in the evolution of copulatory mechanisms. Hermaphrodites can also have sexual conflicts, but caused by opposing sexual interests within rather than between individuals. One consequence seems to be that physically damaging sex, as occurs with the marine flatworm Pseudoceros bifurcus, might be favoured more in hermaphrodites than in species with separate sexes.
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Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie,
Seewiesen, Postfach 1564, D-82305 Starnberg
, Germany
e-mail: Email: michiels@mpi-seewiesen.mpg.de -
Zoology Department, University of
Queensland, QLD Australia 4072
Present address: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution , Washington, DC 20560, USA.
