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Fine structure of the spermatheca of the mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor L.)

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Summary

The spermatheca of the female mealworm beetle is an inflorescence of branching cuticular ducts which is connected to the bursa copulatrix via a cuticular neck surrounded by a muscular coat. The infolded bursal cuticle consists of a distinct outer epicuticle, inner epicuticle, procuticle, and a subcuticular zone; the latter is rich in mucopolysaccharides. The cuticle of the neck lacks a distinct procuticle. The cuticle of the spermatheca itself is mostly inner epicuticle with two thin underlying lamellae of procuticle. The cells of the bursa are loosely coupled to the procuticle, whereas cuticular projections bind the epithelia of the “neck” and the spermatheca proper to the underlying epithelia. The apical plasma membranes of the spermathecal epithelium are sinuous and much infolded; we believe that this epithelium controls the micro-environment within the cuticular ducts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Entomology and Faculty of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

    George M. Happ & Christine M. Happ

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  1. George M. Happ
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  2. Christine M. Happ
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Supported in part by NSF Grant GB36284 and Biomedical Sciences Support Grants to Colorado State University. We thank Dr. N. M. Gadzama for allowing us to use one of his micrographs (Fig. 8), and we are grateful to Colleen West and Kirby Maxwell for typing the manuscript.

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Happ, G.M., Happ, C.M. Fine structure of the spermatheca of the mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor L.). Cell Tissue Res. 162, 253–269 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00209210

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