The implication is that using forks was—like being a hermaphrodite —a kind of sexual abnormality. Sprengel, indeed, understood that the hermaphrodite structure of flowers by no means necessarily leads to self-fertilisation. Unfortunately, for the sake of comparison, I was not able to find the prehensile antenn in the hermaphrodite S. Did Hildebert also write the still more palpably antique elegiacs on Hermaphrodite , and other questionable subjects?
Is a person who is intersex a hermaphrodite? | Intersex Society of North America
True hermaphroditism , sometimes referred to as ovotesticular disorder , [1] [2] [3] is an intersex condition in which an individual is born with ovarian and testicular tissue. Commonly one or both gonads is an ovotestis containing both types of tissue. Although similar in some ways to mixed gonadal dysgenesis , the conditions can be distinguished histologically. External genitalia are often ambiguous, the degree depending mainly on the amount of testosterone produced by the testicular tissue between 8 and 16 weeks of gestation. Only cases have been reported in medical literature. There are extremely rare cases of fertility in "truly hermaphroditic" humans. As a result, these individuals are fertile , but not auto-fertile.
Janet L. Over the last years, research has established that a sexual selection exists and is widespread in the plant and animal kingdoms; b it does not necessarily entail sexual dimorphism; even hermaphrodites have it; c it does not require intelligence or a sophisticated sense of esthetics; even tapeworms and plants choose mates; and d it does not require brawn or even mobility for competition; plants may compete for pollinators, and broadcast spawning invertebrates may also compete for matings. Although discussions of sexual selection often focus on sexual dimorphism, several phenomena that are commonly associated with sexual selection are widespread and highly developed in hermaphrodites. These phenomena include a bizarre and expensive courtship and copulatory behavior, b multiple mating and sperm competition, c rapid evolution of genitalia, d special structures associated with courtship, and e sexual polymorphism.
Metrics details. Classic population genetics theory predicts that mixed reproductive systems, where self reproduction selfing and outcrossing co-exist, should not be as common as they are in nature. A shift in reproductive schedule towards earlier reproduction would be indicative of adaptation in our imposed life-cycle, while longevity is expected to evolve as a response to the harm that males impinge on hermaphrodites upon mating. To determine adaptation in the absence of constraints in sex allocation, we also characterized the life history of females that reproduced during experimental evolution through obligate mating with males. As expected with adaptation, we find that after generations of experimental evolution, selfing hermaphrodites and females showed improved reproduction at earlier ages.