12/1/2015

Female reproductive system

terminal filament bundle

ovary
ovariole

calyx spermathecal gland

common oviduct spermatheca

genital pore accessory glands

vagina

Types of ovarioles (egg tubules)

PANOISTIC TELOTROPHIC POLYTROPHIC

terminal terminal
filament filament

germarium oogonia trophic tissue oogonia

(trophocytes)
young oocytes
(zone of growth: nutritive cord
meiosis suspended
in metaphase) trophocytes

primary oocyte follicular

vitellarium epithelium
(vitellogenesis)
follicular oocyte
epithelium

germinal
vesicle

sheath
epithelial
pedicel plug

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Types of ovarioles (egg tubules), 2

1. Panoistic (ancestral?)
• Apterygota
• Odonata
• Polyneoptera (orthopteroid orders)
thrips
• Siphonaptera/Mecoptera (Antliophora)
• Thysanoptera: ‘Neopanoistic’ (secondary origin)
2. Telotrophic (oddly distributed) stink bug

• Paraneoptera (Hemiptera, at least)

• many polyphagan Coleoptera
3. Polytrophic (specialized?)
• Most Holometabola (except fleas, scorpionflies, and
polyphagan Coleoptera)
• Dermaptera
• Anoplura (and other Psocodea?)

Each has probably evolved multiple times independently.

The insect egg

exochorion chorion
vitelline
air channels endochorion membrane
(aeropyles)
periplasm

yolk

micropyle
cytoplasmic nucleus
reticulum POSTERIOR POLE
vitelline wax layer (periplasm)
membrane
aeropyles exochorion
Mature OOCYTE in a fly
(Diptera: Tephritidae) MICROPYLE
(mosquito egg)
endochorion

wax layer
vitelline membrane

egg cytoplasm
(periplasm)

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An egg gallery
True bug (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

Hover fly (Diptera: Syrphidae)

Neuroptera:
Chrysopidae
Phasmatodea

Dragonfly (Odonata: Anisoptera)

More
micropyle eggs

m.
m.

respiratory
m. horns
Neuroptera:
Hymenoptera: Diptera:
Ululodes
Lepidoptera: Microteryx Drosophila
(Ascalaphidae) Orthoptera:
Pieris (Chalcidae)
Locusta

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Eggs of Lepidoptera
Red-spotted purple Tawny emperor

Bronze copper

Monarch
Red admiral

Sulphur

sand
Variations on a theme of egg-laying
some katydids –
Orthoptera: spiral
row
Tettigoniidae Owlflies –
double row Neuroptera:
Antlions
Ascalaphidae
Neuroptera:
Myrmeleontidae twig
twig
Blatta spp –
Orthoptera: Acrididae Dictyoptera: Blattellidae
crista
sand
ootheca
egg

egg pod
shovel-like Water bug –
ovipositor Hemiptera:
Belostomatidae
(sex role
reversal)

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Reproductive accessory glands

(also, spermatophore formation)
Defensive “repagula” in
Ascalaphidae (Neuroptera)
egg

repagulum

Stalked eggs with droplets of

defensive fluid in Chrysopidae
(Neuroptera)
Grasshopper egg pod
(Orthoptera)

Egg mass/case of the forest tent caterpillar,

Malacosoma disstria (Lepidoptera)

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Egg case (ootheca)

of Blattella germanica
(Dictyoptera: Blattodea)

Ootheca of a Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis carolina (Dictyoptera)

Tenodera sinensis
(Chinese mantis,
introduced)

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Live birth: Glossina spp, tsetse flies (Diptera)

spermatheca oocyte
nurse
cells
teneral
adult

milk gland

gravid female
“uterine” cavity,
larva inside

milk gland

Fertilization: the complex role of the female’s spermatheca

Diptera:
Asilidae

Sexual selection and

sexual conflict: the battle
for control of fertilization.

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Sperm scoops in male damselflies (Odonata: Zygoptera)

(work by Waage in the 1970s)

Calopteryx virgo

Sexual selection:
male-male competition

Fertilization: the complex role of the male’s spermatophore

Early-branching
insects:
external transfer of
spermatophore
(Diplura, Apterygota,
and even Odonata)

Australian bushcricket
(Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

Katydids (Orthoptera:
Tettigoniidae)

Sexual selection:
female mate choice

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Haemocoelic (“traumatic”) insemination in a bedbug:

sexual conflict in action (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)

Sexual selection:
sexual conflict

Sex determination: male vs. female

(Secondary sexual traits: a function of each cell of the body)
Heterogametic males Heterogametic females
XX, XY ZW, ZZ
Most insect XX, XO
orders

Caddis flies (Trichoptera) &

moths & butterflies (Lepidoptera)

(and the majority of

other plants & animals) (and birds)

ZZ
ZW

XX XY

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Haplodiploidy (a type of arrhenotoky) – Hymenoptera…

Females (queen & workers -- XX) Males (drones – X; haploid)

..but also in Thysanoptera &

some Hemiptera & Coleoptera
Scales

Thrips

Coffee-berry weevil

Fritillary Lateral gynandromorphs

Gypsy moth

(Diana’s)

% &
Mosaic gynandromorphs

Papilio
% &
Morpho
androgeus
(Queen
swallowtail)

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Parthenogenesis via thelytoky (apomixis & automixis)

Absent: only in Odonata,
Phasmatodea
Dermaptera, Neuroptera,
& Siphonaptera (4 orders)

Hemiptera: Aphidae

Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae

caterpillar host: polyembryony

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