Zarka Jens, Parmentier Thomas, Wybouw Nicky
Terrestrial Ecology Unit (TEREC), Department of Biology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium Ghent University Gent Belgium.
Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Namur Institute of Complex Systems, and Institute of Life, Earth, and the Environment, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium University of Namur Namur Belgium.
Zookeys. 2022 May 18;1101:183-190. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1101.77212. eCollection 2022.
Intersex phenotypes are rarely observed in natural isopod populations and their expression is typically associated with infection of , a reproductive parasite that manipulates arthropod reproduction. During an intensive sampling effort of a natural population of the isopod , an adult individual was isolated that expressed both male and female traits. The intersex individual exhibited clearly developed external male genitalia and carried multiple eggs in its brood pouch. No infection could be identified in this individual, a result that needs to be approached with caution due to suboptimal DNA preservation for diagnostic PCR assays. were, however, detected in two adult females of the same population, and appear closely related to isolates that infect other terrestrial isopod species. This is the first demonstration that intersex phenotypes can arise under natural conditions in .
间性表型在自然等足类动物种群中很少见，其表达通常与感染一种操纵节肢动物繁殖的生殖寄生虫有关。在对等足类动物自然种群进行密集采样时，分离出了一只表现出雄性和雌性特征的成年个体。这只间性个体的外部雄性生殖器发育明显，育儿袋中有多个卵。在这一个体中未检测到感染，由于用于诊断性聚合酶链反应检测的DNA保存不佳，这一结果需要谨慎对待。然而，在同一种群的两只成年雌性个体中检测到了（寄生虫），并且它们似乎与感染其他陆生等足类物种的分离株密切相关。这是首次证明在自然条件下等足类动物中可以出现间性表型。
