SPONTANEOUS SEX REVERSAL IN PLEURODELES WALTL (URODELE AMPHIBIA) - ANALYSIS OF ITS INHERITANCE

Up to now, no case of spontaneous sex reversal has been described in t he urodele amphibian Pleurodeles waltl reared at ambient temperature. However in offspring reared under laboratory conditions, males, female s but also intersex individuals were obtained. The males, some females and the intersexes had the ZZ male genotype identified through a test performed with a sex-linked enzyme. The other females had the ZW fema le genotype. Using the animals of this particular strain, an offspring analysis was made on crosses between, respectively, ZZ males and ZW f emales, ZZ males and ZZ females, and ZZ intersexes and ZZ males or fem ales. All these crosses gave ZZ males, ZZ females and ZZ intersexes. T he spontaneous complete or partial sex reversal is inheritable, but th e genetic mechanism of this inheritance has not yet been elucidated.