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Extracellular ducts within the wall of the spermatheca of tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) (Dipt., Glossrnidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

A. M. Jordan
Affiliation:
Tsetse Research Laboratory, University of Bristol, School of Veterinary Science, Langford, Bristol, BS18 7DU

Extract

Each spherical spermatheca of Glossina austeni Newst. is composed of a cuticular lining of the lumen which is surrounded by a layer of secretory cells. When the spermatheca is immersed in Amann's lactophenol the cells of the cellular layer lift away from the cuticular intima revealing numerous clubbed processes projecting outwards from the surface of the intima. Sections of spermathecae examined by transmission electron microscopy show that one clubbed process is associated with each cell of the cellular layer. The “porous” head of the process is within a fluidfilled cavity in the cell, lined with microvilli. The stalk of each process is an extracellular duct down which secretions from the cellular layer pass into the lumen of the spermatheca. It is considered that these secretions are the medium, probably containing nutrients, in which spermatozoa are held while in the spermatheca.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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