Sperm cells provide essential, if usually diminutive, ingredients to successful sexual
reproduction. Despite this conserved function, sperm competition and coevolution with
female traits can drive spectacular morphological change in these cells. Here, we
characterize four repeated instances of convergent evolution of sperm gigantism in
Caenorhabditis nematodes using phylogenetic comparative methods on 26 species.
Species at the extreme end of the 50-fold range of sperm-cell volumes across the genus …

Sperm cells provide crucial, if usually diminutive, ingredients to successful sexual
reproduction as the source of centrioles and half the diploid genome. Despite this essential
conserved function, sperm competition and coevolution with female traits can drive
spectacular change in size and shape of these motile cells. Here we characterize four
repeated instances of convergent evolution of sperm gigantism in Caenorhabditis
nematodes using phylogenetic comparative methods on 26 species. Species at the extreme …