Penile spines

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

Pointed structures on the penile glans and/or shaft

title: "Penile spines" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["felidae-anatomy", "mammal-male-reproductive-system", "mammal-penis", "penis"] description: "Pointed structures on the penile glans and/or shaft" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penile_spines" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Pointed structures on the penile glans and/or shaft ::

| direction = horizontal

| image1 = | width1 = 200 | alt1 = | link1 = File:Penis-cat.jpg | caption1 = | image2 = Penisstacheln.jpg | width2 = 200 | alt2 = | link2 = File:Penisstacheln.jpg | caption2 =

| footer = Penile spines of a domestic cat

Many mammalian species have developed keratinized penile spines along the glans or shaft, which may be involved in sexual selection. These spines have been described as being simple, single-pointed structures (macaques) or complex with two or three points per spine (strepsirrhines). Penile spine morphology may be related to mating system.

Non-human mammals

Felines, especially domestic cats, are well known for having penile spines. Upon withdrawal of a cat's penis, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which may serve as a trigger for ovulation.{{Cite journal |title = Penile Spines of the Domestic Cat: Their Endocrine-behavior Relations |last1 = Aronson |first1 = L. R. |last2 = Cooper |first2 = M. L. |journal = Anat. Rec. |year = 1967 |volume = 157 |issue = 1 |pages = 71–78 |pmid = 6030760 |doi = 10.1002/ar.1091570111 |s2cid = 13070242 |url = http://www.catcollection.org/files/PenileSpines.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170620212227/http://www.catcollection.org/files/PenileSpines.pdf |archive-date = 2017-06-20

Penile spines in chimpanzees and mice are small surface projections made by the piling up of keratinized cell layers in the outermost skin surface. They occur in wombats, koalas, spotted hyenas, fossas, echidnas, primates, bats, and several rodent species.

Penile spines are often found in primate species that form copulatory plugs after mating. In galagos, penile spines may form a "genital lock" during copulation.

Humans

In contrast to chimpanzees, a common morphological variant found in humans called hirsuties coronae glandis, or pearly penile papules, are substantially larger, appear to be an outpocketing of both surface and underlying connective tissue layers, and lack the rich innervation seen in other animals. These are sometimes described as vestigial remnants of penile spines. However, the relationship between the structures is still uncertain.

When the hominin lineage split into the genera Homo and Pan, a regulatory DNA sequence associated with the formation of small keratinized penile spines was lost in the Homo lineage. This simplification of penis anatomy may be associated with the sexual habits of humans. In some species which retain full expression, penile spines contribute to increased sexual sensation and quicker orgasms. An hCONDEL (highly conserved region of DNA that contains deletions in humans) located near the locus of the androgen receptor gene may be responsible for the loss of penile spines in humans.

Birds

The penises of some bird species feature spines and brush-like filaments.

References

References

  1. Alan F. Dixson. (26 January 2012). "Primate Sexuality: Comparative Studies of the Prosimians, Monkeys, Apes, and Humans". Oxford University Press.
  2. Orr, Teri J., and Patricia LR Brennan. "[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Patricia_Brennan3/publication/304714253_All_Features_Great_and_Small-the_Potential_Roles_of_the_Baculum_and_Penile_Spines_in_Mammals/links/57805fa708ae9485a439c150.pdf All Features Great and Small—the Potential Roles of the Baculum and Penile Spines in Mammals.]" Integrative and Comparative Biology (2016): icw057.
  3. Stockley, P. "[https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/mbe/pdf/02_StockleyEE.pdf Sperm competition risk and male genital anatomy: comparative evidence for reduced duration of female sexual receptivity in primates with penile spines.] {{Webarchive. link. (2017-02-06 " Evolutionary Ecology 16.2 (2002): 123-137.)
  4. (1993). "Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-specific Data". Cornell University Press.
  5. Swanson, W. F., et al. "[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rosana_Morais/publication/229648443_Reproductive_status_of_endemic_felid_species_in_Latin_American_Zoos_and_implications_for_ex_situ_conservation/links/0deec5161a84601b52000000.pdf Reproductive status of endemic felid species in Latin American zoos and implications for ex situ conservation]." Zoo Biology 22.5 (2003): 421-441.
  6. Hill, W.C.O. Note on the male external genitalia of the chimpanzee. ''Proc.Zool.Soc. Lond.'' 116, 129–132 (1946)
  7. Murakami, R. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1261796/pdf/janat00179-0222.pdf A histological study of the development of the penis of wild-type and androgen-insensitive mice]. ''J. Anat.'' 153, 223–231 (1987)
  8. Hogan, Lindsay A., Tina Janssen, and Stephen D. Johnston. "[http://www.reproduction-online.org/content/145/6/R157.full Wombat reproduction (Marsupialia; Vombatidae): an update and future directions for the development of artificial breeding technology.]" Reproduction 145.6 (2013): R157-R173.
  9. (1 May 2019). "Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals". Csiro Publishing.
  10. Drea, C. M., et al. "[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691120/pdf/12396496.pdf Exposure to naturally circulating androgens during foetal life incurs direct reproductive costs in female spotted hyenas, but is prerequisite for male mating]." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 269.1504 (2002): 1981-1987.
  11. R. F. Ewer. (1998). "The Carnivores". Cornell University Press.
  12. (1986). "''Cryptoprocta ferox''". [[Mammalian Species]].
  13. (18 August 2008). "Medicine of Australian Mammals". Csiro Publishing.
  14. Harcourt, A. H., and J. Gardiner. "[https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.1994.0007 Sexual selection and genital anatomy of male primates]." Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 255.1342 (1994): 47-53.
  15. (1987). "Observations on the evolution of the genitalia and copulatory behaviour in male primates". Journal of Zoology.
  16. (9 March 2013). "Creatures of the Dark". Springer Science & Business Media.
  17. (12 June 2000). "Reproductive Biology of Bats". Academic Press.
  18. Dewsbury, Donald A. "[https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758/BF03333609.pdf On the function of the multiple-intromission, multiple-ejaculation copulatory patterns of rodents]." ''Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society'' 18.4 (1981): 221-223.
  19. Dunham, A. E., and V. H. W. Rudolf. "[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01768.x Evolution of sexual size monomorphism: the influence of passive mate guarding]." Journal of evolutionary biology 22.7 (2009): 1376-1386.
  20. Dixson, A. F. "[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alan_Dixson/publication/226490834_Sexual_selection_genital_morphology_and_copulatory_behavior_in_male_Galagos/links/54e154a70cf24d184b10c607/Sexual-selection-genital-morphology-and-copulatory-behavior-in-male-Galagos.pdf Sexual selection, genital morphology, and copulatory behavior in male galagos.]" International Journal of Primatology 10.1 (1989): 47-55.
  21. Glicksman, JM and Freeman, RG. Pearly penile papules. A statistical study of incidence. ''Arch. Dermatol.'' 93:56-59 (1966)
  22. Agrawal, SK et al. Pearly penile papules: a review. ''Int. J. Dermatology'' 43:199-201 (2004)
  23. [http://kingsley.stanford.edu/SpinesVsPapules.html Penile spines versus pearly penile papules in humans]
  24. (10 March 2011). "Human-specific loss of regulatory DNA and the evolution of human-specific traits.". Nature.
  25. [http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/neandertals/neandertal_dna/penis-spines-mclean-2011.html Paleoanthropology, Genetics, and Evolution]
  26. Frank B. Gill. (6 October 2006). "Ornithology". Macmillan.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

felidae-anatomymammal-male-reproductive-systemmammal-penispenis