Gynandromorphism

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Gynandromorph of Athyma inara inara Open wing basking position of Gynandromorph of Athyma inara Westwood, 1850 - Colour Sergeant butterfly MG 0820 WLB.jpg
Gynandromorph of Athyma inara inara
Gynandromorph of the common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) ZwitterHauhechelblaeuling.jpg
Gynandromorph of the common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus)
Gynandromorph of Heteropteryx dilatata Heteropteryx dilatata 0034b L.D.jpg
Gynandromorph of Heteropteryx dilatata
Gynandromorph of Crocothemis servilia Gynandromorphism in Crocothemis servilia.jpg
Gynandromorph of Crocothemis servilia

Gynandromorphism is the phenomenon that occurs when an individual organism possesses both male and female phenotypes due to genetic chimera of sex chromosomes in cells across the body and is most easily recognized in species that display sexual dimorphism. [1] An individual who displays this characteristic is called a gynandromorph. The term comes from the Greek γυνή (gynē) 'female', ἀνήρ (anēr) 'male', and μορφή (morphē) 'form', and is most commonly documented the field of entomology. [1] Gynandromorphism is distinct from both intersexuality and hermaphroditism, although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. [2]

Contents

Occurrence

Gynandromorphism has been noted in Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) since the 1700s. [3] [4] [5] It has also been observed in crustaceans, such as lobsters and crabs, in spiders, [6] ticks, [7] flies, [8] locusts, [9] crickets, [10] dragonflies, [11] ants, [12] [13] termites, [14] bees, [15] lizards, [16] snakes, [17] rodents, [18] [19] and birds. [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] Although it can be seen in a variety of species, gynandromorphism is notably uncommon. [26] Reporting depends on ease of detecting the phenomenon (whether a species displays noticeable sexual dimorphism) and how well-studied a region or organism is. For example, up until 2023 gynandromorphism had been reported in more than 40 bird species, but the vast majority of these are from the Palearctic and Nearctic; meanwhile, incidents in species from other regions may go underreported due to lack of data collection. [27]

Pattern of distribution of male and female tissues in a single organism

Several patterns of tissue distribution occur amongst observed gynandromorphs. Patch-like patterns may arise, but commonly the phenotype presents in a symmetrical pattern, of which there are three main types: bilateral, oblique, and transverse. [2] Bilateral describes an organism that is split laterally with one side possessing female characteristics and the other having male characteristics. Oblique refers to a diagonal line across the sagittal plane that separates the male and female phenotypes. Lastly, transverse is a separation of male and female phenotypes along an axis that intersects with what would be considered the primary axis for the body of a given organism. [2]

A notable example in birds is the zebra finch. These birds have lateralized brain structures in the face of a common steroid signal, providing strong evidence for a non-hormonal primary sex mechanism regulating brain differentiation. [28]

Causes

The exact cause for gynandromorphism is unknown, and appears to vary by species. [1] One proposed cause for the phenotype in birds is a disruption that occurs in meiosis in female birds -- who possess ZW chromosomes -- in which polar bodies are not forced out of the cell. [29] This is then followed with fertilization by two Z-bearing sperm cells which creates cells in the embryo containing both ZZ and ZW chromosomes. [29] The same phenomenon can be seen in other species, such as Drosophila melanogaster , and creates a genetic mosaic which gives rise to the mixed phenotype.

As a research tool

Gynandromorphs occasionally afford a powerful tool in genetic, developmental, and behavioral analyses. In Drosophila melanogaster , for instance, they provided evidence that male courtship behavior originates in the brain, [30] that males can distinguish conspecific females from males by the scent or some other characteristic of the posterior, dorsal, integument of females, [31] [32] that the germ cells originate in the posterior-most region of the blastoderm, [33] and that somatic components of the gonads originate in the mesodermal region of the fourth and fifth abdominal segment. [34]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jahner, Joshua P.; Lucas, Lauren K.; Wilson, Joseph S.; Forister, Matthew L. (5 April 2015). "Morphological Outcomes of Gynandromorphism in Lycaeides Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)". Journal of Insect Science. 15 (1): 38. doi:10.1093/jisesa/iev020. PMC   7175718 . PMID   25843591 – via Oxford Academic.
  2. 1 2 3 Fusco, Giuseppe; Minelli, Alessandro (12 January 2023). "Descriptive versus causal morphology: gynandromorphism and intersexuality". Theory in Bioscience. 142: 1–11. doi:10.1007/s12064-023-00385-1. hdl: 11577/3466453 . PMID   36633802 – via Springer Nature Link.
  3. ↑ Rudolphi, Karl Asmund (1828). "Beschreibung einer seltenen menschlichen Zwitterbildung nebst vorangeschickten allgemeinen Bemerkungen über Zwitter-Thiere". Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (in German): 45–69.
  4. ↑ Packard, Alpheus Spring (1875). "On Gynandromorphism in the Lepidoptera". Memoirs Read Before the Boston Society of Natural History. 2: 409–412.
  5. ↑ Pavid, Katie. "Beauty of the dual-gender butterfly". Natural History Museum. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  6. ↑ Suzuki, Yuya; Kuramitsu, Kazumu; Yokoi, Tomoyuki (2019-06-14). "Morphology and sex-specific behavior of a gynandromorphic Myrmarachne formicaria (Araneae: Salticidae) spider". The Science of Nature. 106 (7): 34. Bibcode:2019SciNa.106...34S. doi:10.1007/s00114-019-1625-x. hdl: 2241/00159248 . ISSN   1432-1904. PMID   31201570. S2CID   189819156.
  7. ↑ Labruna, M. B.; Ribeiro, A. F.; Cruz, M. V.; Camargo, L. M A.; Camargo, E. P. (August 2002). "Gynandromorphism in Amblyomma cajennense and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae)". Journal of Parasitology. 88 (4): 810–811. doi:10.1645/0022-3395(2002)088[0810:GIACAR]2.0.CO;2. PMID   12197141. S2CID   26299983.
  8. ↑ Morgan, T. H. (1 June 1914). "Mosaics and gynandromorphs in Drosophila". Experimental Biology and Medicine. 11 (6): 171–172. doi:10.3181/00379727-11-105. S2CID   87401593.
  9. ↑ Maeno, Koutaro; Tanaka, Seiji (September 2007). "Morphological and behavioural characteristics of a gynandromorph of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria". Physiological Entomology. 32 (3): 294–299. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3032.2007.00573.x. S2CID   85317122.
  10. ↑ Taniyama, Katsuya; Onodera, Kaori; Tanaka, Kazuhiro (December 2018). "Sexual identity and sexual attractiveness of a gynandromorph of the lawn ground cricket, Polionemobius mikado (Orthoptera: Trigonidiidae): Gynandromorph of Polionemobius mikado". Entomological Science. 21 (4): 423–427. doi:10.1111/ens.12321. S2CID   91381517.
  11. ↑ Renjith, R. V.; Chandran, A. Vivek (26 June 2020). "A record of gynandromorphism in the libellulid dragonfly Crocothemis servilia (Insecta: Odonata) from India". Journal of Threatened Taxa. 12 (9): 16183–16186. doi: 10.11609/jott.5322.12.9.16183-16186 .
  12. ↑ Donisthorpe, Horace (1929). "Gynandromorphism in ants" (PDF). Zoologischer Anzeiger. 82: 92–96.
  13. ↑ Cokendolpher, James C.; Francke, Oscar F. (1983). "Gynandromorphic Desert Fire Ant, Solenopsis aurea Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 91 (3): 242–245. ISSN   0028-7199. JSTOR   25009362.
  14. ↑ Miyaguni, Yasushi; Nozaki, Tomonari; Yashiro, Toshihisa (August 2017). "The first report of gynandromorphy in termites (Isoptera; Kalotermitidae; Neotermes koshunensis)". The Science of Nature. 104 (7–8): 60. Bibcode:2017SciNa.104...60M. doi:10.1007/s00114-017-1478-0. PMID   28676938. S2CID   21170853.
  15. ↑ Lucia, Mariano; Gonzalez, Victor. H. (1 November 2013). "A New Gynandromorph of Xylocopa frontalis with a Review of Gynandromorphism in Xylocopa (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Xylocopini)". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 106 (6): 853–856. doi: 10.1603/AN13085 . hdl: 11336/23238 . S2CID   84567180.
  16. ↑ Mitchell, Joseph C.; Fouquette, M. J. (10 February 1978). "A Gynandromorphic Whiptail Lizard, Cnemidophorus inornatus, from Arizona". Copeia. 1978 (1): 156. doi:10.2307/1443840. JSTOR   1443840.
  17. ↑ Krohmer, Randolph W. (27 December 1989). "Reproductive Physiology and Behavior of a Gynandromorph Redsided Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis, from Central Manitoba, Canada". Copeia. 1989 (4): 1064–1068. doi:10.2307/1446001. JSTOR   1446001.
  18. ↑ Asdell, S. A. (1942). "The Accessory Reproductive Tract in Mammalian True Hermaphrodites, an Effect of Position" . The American Naturalist. 76 (762): 75–84. Bibcode:1942ANat...76...75A. doi:10.1086/281015. ISSN   0003-0147. JSTOR   2457667. S2CID   83563917.
  19. ↑ Hollander, W. F.; Gowen, John W.; Stadler, Janice (February 1956). "A study of 25 gynandromorphic mice of the Bagg albino strain". The Anatomical Record. 124 (2): 223–243. doi:10.1002/ar.1091240207. PMID   13302819. S2CID   21938150.
  20. ↑ National Geographic (2019-07-01). "Rare Half Male, Half Female Cardinal Spotted in Pennsylvania". National Geographic Society . Retrieved 2025-03-19.
  21. ↑ Chen, Xuqi; Agate, Robert J.; Itoh, Yuichiro; Arnold, Arthur P. (2005). "Sexually dimorphic expression of trkB, a Z-linked gene, in early posthatch zebra finch brain". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 102 (21): 7730–5. Bibcode:2005PNAS..102.7730C. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0408350102 . PMC   1140405 . PMID   15894627.
  22. ↑ Gouldian finch Erythrura gouldiae Gynandromorph Archived 2006-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ↑ Powdermill Banding Fall 2004 Archived 2006-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ↑ A Gender-bender Colored Cardinal, by Tim Wall, Discovery News, 31 May 2011 Archived 2012-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ↑ "Half-cock chicken mystery solved". BBC News. 11 March 2010.
  26. ↑ Martens, Andreas; Wildermuth, Hansruedi (1 June 2021). "Gynandromorphism and intersexuality in Odonata: a review". Odonatologica. 50 (1–2): 65–80. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4746242.short (inactive 1 July 2025) – via BioOne Digital Library.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
  27. ↑ Stępniewski, J.; Surmacki, A. (2023). "The first case of bilateral gynandromorphic plumage type in the bearded reedling Panurus biarmicus". The European Zoological Journal. 90 (2): 643–647. doi: 10.1080/24750263.2023.2231000 .
  28. ↑ Arnold, Arthur P. (2004). "Sex chromosomes and brain gender". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 5 (9): 701–8. doi:10.1038/nrn1494. PMID   15322528. S2CID   7419814.
  29. 1 2 Morris, Kirsten R; Hirst, Claire E.; Major, Andrew T.; Ezaz, Tariq; Ford, Mark; Bibby, Susan; Doran, Tim J.; Smith, Craig A. (15 August 2018). "Gonadal and Endocrine Analysis of a Gynandromorphic Chicken". Endocrinology. 159 (10): 3492–3502. doi:10.1210/en.2018-00553. PMID   30124802 – via Oxford Academic.
  30. ↑ Hotta, Y, and Benzer, S. (1972). "Mapping of Behaviour in Drosophila mosaics". Nature. 240 (5383): 527–535. Bibcode:1972Natur.240..527H. doi:10.1038/240527a0. PMID   4568399. S2CID   4181921.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  31. ↑ Nissani, M. (1975). "A new behavioral bioassay for an analysis of sexual attraction and pheromones in insects". Journal of Experimental Zoology. 192 (2): 271–5. Bibcode:1975JEZ...192..271N. doi:10.1002/jez.1401920217. PMID   805823.
  32. ↑ Hotta, Y., Benzer, S. (1976). "Courtship in Drosophila mosaics: sex-specific foci for sequential action patterns". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 73 (11): 4154–4158. Bibcode:1976PNAS...73.4154H. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.11.4154 . PMC   431365 . PMID   825859.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ↑ Nissani, Moti (1977). "Cell lineage analysis of germ cells of Drosophila melanogaster". Nature. 265 (5596): 729–731. Bibcode:1977Natur.265..729N. doi:10.1038/265729a0. PMID   404558. S2CID   4146956.
  34. ↑ Szabad, Janos, and Nothiger, Rolf (1992). "Gynandromorphs of Drosophila suggest one common primordium for the somatic cells of the female and male gonads in the region of abdominal segments 4 and 5" (PDF). Development. 115 (2): 527–533. doi:10.1242/dev.115.2.527. PMID   1425338.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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