Sperm bundle and reproductive organs of carabid beetles tribe Pterostichini (Coleoptera: Carabidae) |
| |
Authors: | Kôji Sasakawa |
| |
Institution: | (1) Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan |
| |
Abstract: | The morphological characteristics of sperm and reproductive organs may offer clues as to how reproductive systems have evolved.
In this paper, the morphologies of the sperm and male reproductive organs of carabid beetles in the tribe Pterostichini (Coleoptera:
Carabidae) are described, and the morphological associations among characters are examined. All species form sperm bundles
in which the head of the sperm was embedded in a rod-shaped structure, i.e., spermatodesm. The spermatodesm shape (left-handed
spiral, right-handed spiral, or without conspicuous spiral structure) and the condition of the sperm on the spermatodesm surface
(with the tail free-moving or forming a thin, sheetlike structure) vary among species. In all species, the spiral directions
of the convoluted seminal vesicles and vasa deferentia are the same on both sides of the body; that is, they show an asymmetric
structure. The species in which the sperm bundle and the seminal vesicles both have a spiral structure could be classified
into two types, with significant differences in sperm-bundle length between the two types. The species with a sperm-bundle
spiral and seminal-vesicle spiral of almost the same diameter have longer sperm bundles than the species with a sperm-bundle
spiral and seminal-vesicle tube of almost the same diameter. In the former type, the spiral directions of the sperm bundles
and seminal vesicles are inevitably the same, whereas they differ in some species with the later type. Therefore, increased
sperm bundle length appears to have been facilitated by the concordance of the sperm bundle’s coiling direction with the coiling
direction of the seminal vesicle. |
| |
Keywords: | Asymmetry Seminal vesicle Spermatheca Spiral structure vas deferens |
本文献已被 PubMed SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|