Study On Sperm Morphology, Ultrastructure And Seasonal Changes In Testis Of Tribe Paini

On the base of unique morphological and kyrotype characters, Dubois(1992)recognized three genera Paa, Narnorana, Chaparana as tribe Paini, which is amember of Dicroglossinae, Ranidae. In present study, the sperm shape, size andultrastructure of 10 paini species were investigated through the light and electronmicroscope, and testis structure of N. pleskei and E quadrana was also studied. Wesuppose this study could offer some spermatological evidence to phylogeny andreproduction study of tribe Paini. The results were as follows:The sperm shape of tribe paini is homologically similar, the spermatozoa arefiliform, composed of elongate head, long mid-piece and waved tail. The acrosome isapically associated with the nucleus and extend anteriorly.The sperm length of tribe paini differ remarkably among genera. Cluster for thelength of sperm head, mid-piece, tail, total length, head-width, tail-width of ten painifrogs indicated the 10 species could be separated into three groups: GroupⅠcontainsP. shini, P. robertingeri, P. spinosa, P. exilispinosa, P. boulengeri, the spermatozoa ischaracterized with short in total length, ranging from 72.6μm to 103.35μm;GroupⅡcontains N. pleskei, N. parkeri, N. ventripunctata, the spermatozoa ischaracterized with relatively long in total length, ranging from 107.74μm to129.75μm; GroupⅢcontains F. quadrana and P. yunnanensis, the spermatozoa is characterized with longest in total length, ranging from 145.891am to 165.84μm. thethree groups based on spermatological data is partially match the classification basedon morphological and molecular data.The ultrastructure of spermatozoa in tribe paini is also basic similar, includingacrosome vescile, nuleus of the head proper, centriole, mitochondriol of themid-pieces, axoneme of the tail. The acrosome vescle is circle in TEM transversesection, the density of nucleus is high; The mitochondrions is oval, surrounding theaxial filament with about 30 layers of mitochondria; The axoneme has the typical 9+2pattern of microtubules.The seasonal changes in testis of N. pleskei indicates it has only onespermatogenesis circle, which begin in July, the reproduction season is from May toJune, the spermatogenesis is active in September. On the base of seasonal changes intestis, the spermatogenesis circle can be separated into three stages: In stageⅠfromJuly to September, spermatids are formed; In stageⅡfrom October to April next year,the spermatozoa are stored in testis,which is the hibernated period; In stageⅢfromMay to June, mature spermatozoa were released from the testis, which is thereproduction season of N. pleskei. As to F. quadrana, reproduction is active in May.With the previous study of morphology, ecology, karyotypes and phylogenyresearch of tribe Paini, the spermatological data in present study suggests:1. The spermatological classification of tribe paini is partially consistant with themorphological and molecular classification respectively.2.The sperm morphology and ultrustructure of tribe paini is unique not only inthe family Rartida but also in Anura, which suggest the tribe paini is monophyletic andmight be transfered from the family Ranida to the family Dicroglossidae based onmolecular evidence.3. The acrosome, nuleus, shape, length and ultrastructure of mid-piece can beused as an alternative taxonomic character in Anura.