Sperm aggregations in the spermatheca of female desmognathine salamanders (Amphibia: Urodela: Plethodontidae)

Journal of Morphology
D M Sever, William C Hamlett

Abstract

The alignment of sperm in a cloacal sperm storage gland, the spermatheca, was studied in female desmognathine salamanders by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Females representing nine species and collected in spring, late summer, and fall in the southern Appalachian Mountains contained abundant sperm in their spermathecae. The spermatheca is a compound tubuloalveolar gland connected by a single common tube to the middorsal wall of the cloaca. Sperm enter the common tube in small groups aligned in parallel along their axes, and continue in a straight course until encountering divisions of the common tube (neck tubules) or luminal borders of distal bulbs, which can act as barriers. Sperm may form tangles, in which small clusters retain their mutual alignment, at the branches of the neck tubules from the common tube, or in the lumen of the distal bulbs, where subsequent waves of sperm collide with sperm already present. The nuclei of some sperm from the initial group to encounter the walls of the distal bulbs appear to become embedded in secretory material on the luminal border or in the apical cytoplasm of the spermathecal epithelial cells. We propose that these sperm become trapped in the spermatheca and are ultima...Continue Reading

References

Dec 1, 1986·The Journal of Experimental Zoology·M P Hardy, J N Dent
Dec 1, 1986·Journal of Morphology·M P Hardy, J N Dent
Dec 1, 1970·Journal of Morphology·J N Dent
May 29, 1998·Biology of Reproduction·S S Suarez
Dec 29, 1998·The Journal of Experimental Zoology·D M Sever, R Brizzi

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Citations

Mar 27, 2001·Journal of Morphology·D M SeverW C Hamlett
Dec 26, 2001·The Journal of Experimental Zoology·David M Sever
May 26, 2007·The Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology·Lev FishelsonYakob Delarea
Apr 20, 2005·Molecular Ecology·Erika M AdamsStevan J Arnold
Jan 15, 2011·The Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology·Ezequiel González-León, Martha Patricia Ramírez-Pinilla

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