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Fine-structural characteristics of female and male germ cells in Proseriata Otoplanidae (Platyhelminthes)

  • Reproductive System
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Abstract

Fine-structural features of female germ cells differentiating within the germaria of Otoplanella baltica and Notocaryoplanella glandulosa are documented and compared with those of other free-living platyhelminths having ectolecithal eggs.

In these species, encompassed in the taxon Proseriata Lithophora, insemination of the germocytes occurs within the germaria. A sperm cell, that has penetrated a germocyte differs in special features from mature male germ cells found in the testes, in parts of the male genital system, or even in other regions of the organism. The hypothesis that dense bodies correspond to acrosomal material is supported.

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  1. Arbeitsstelle zur Erforschung der Mikrofauna des Meeresbodens der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, II, Zoologisches Institut und Museum der Universität Göttingen, Berliner Strasse 28, D-3400, Göttingen, F.R.G.

    Beate Sopott Ehlers

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Ehlers, B.S. Fine-structural characteristics of female and male germ cells in Proseriata Otoplanidae (Platyhelminthes). Hydrobiologia 132, 137–144 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00046240

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