Morphology And Ultrastructure Of The Reproductive System In Cicadellinae

Morphological studies in reproductive system of insect, can contribute to the knowledgeof reproductive aspects. Whereas studies on the morphology and fine structure of reproductivesystem in Cicadellidae are relatively few. The present describes the structure andultrastructure of organs of the internal male reproductive system and spermatozoa inCicadellinae, aiming to contribute to the knowledge of reproductive biology, as well as toprovide information on the systematic studies of this group.Female reproductive system of Cicadellinae consists of ligament, ovary, lateral oviduct,common oviduct, spermatheca, bursa copulatrix and accessory gland. Each symmetric ovaryconsisted of ovarioles whose anterior end are combined by terminal filament and posteriorend by calyx, is connected to a lateral oviduct, and the paired lateral oviduct meet medicallyin the common oviduct, lastly which connects to the valvulae through the vagina. There is aprocess at the posterior end of common oviduct called spermatheca, nextly; a bursa copulatrixand a long tublar accessory gland are behind it. The egg chamber of the ovariole is composedof the tunica propria, follicular epithelium and oocyts. The follicular epitheliums are arrangedregularly around the egg chamber, and materials of the cytoplasm are subject to manyvariations obviously in different developmental stage of the oogenesis process. The commonoviduct consists of thicker muscular sheath, basal lamina, epithelium cells and lumen. Thereare large amounts of spermatozoa in the lumen, many vesicles in the epithelium cell, andsome tracheoles outside the common oviduct. The female accessory glands contain mainlysecreted epithelium cell, lumen and basal lamina. Many infoldings present at the basal lamina.Large amounts of rough endoplasmic reticulum and granules material between epitheliumcells are observed. Many microvillis or processus place at the apical membrane of theepithelium cells.The male reproductive system consists of paired symmetric tests with testicular follicles,two vas deferens, a couple of seminal vesicles, a pair of accessory glands, two lateralejaculatory ducts and a single common ejaculatory duct. The vas deferens connect tests withseminal vesicles, while lateral ejaculatory ducts whose anterior end closed to the seminal vesicle combining the accessory glands merger to common ejaculatory duct. The commonejaculatory duct is short and connects to the aedeagus. Testicular follicular is composed of thetesticular follicle membrane, muscular sheath, epithelium and spermatids. There are lots ofmultilamellar bodies, mitochondrial, rough endoplasmic reticulum and vesicles in theepithelium cells. During the spermiogenesis, the components of spermatid are varying, suchas, the formation of the acrosome, the elongation of the nucleus and chromatin condensation.Seminal vesicle is composed of the tunica propria, muscular sheath, monolayer epitheliumcells and lumen. Large amounts of rough endoplasmic reticulum and granules material presentin the epithelium cell. The septeted junctions are obvious between the epithelium cells, andthe apical membrane has many microvillis in the epithelium cells towards the lumen. Maleaccessory glands consist of lumen, secreted epithelium cell and muscular sheath. There arelarge amounts of microvillis on the apical membrane of the epithelium cell, endoplasmicreticulum in the cytoplasm, and many vesicles around the secreted epithelium cells. Thejunction of the cells is obvious. Male accessory glands contain three types of Secretedgranules.There are some differences between the reproductive system of Cicadella viridis(Linnaeus) and Kolla paulula (Walker). In female reproductive system, there are6ovarioles inCicadella viridis (Linnaeus), and5ovarioles in Kolla paulula (Walker) whose spermathecaand bursa copulatrix are fuchsia. Moreover, there are6testicular follicles and one pair ofshort accessory glands in male reproductive system of Cicadella viridis (Linnaeus), whoseseminal vesicles connect tightly forming a cylindric structure, while5testicular follicles and abullon-shaped structure of seminal vesicles in male reproductive system of Kolla paulula(Walker). The accessory gland is long and its top is fuchsia.The spermatozoa of leafhoppers are organized into bundles, and their anterior ends areembedded in a homogenous matrix forming spermatodesm. The spermatozoa of Cicadellaviridis (Linnaeus) and Kalla paubula (Walker) are elongated and filiform, composed of a headcontaining an acrosome and an elongated nucleus, and a long tail, which consists of aflagellum. The acrosome lacked of a perforatorium is conical and invaginated to form asubacrosomal space, and the acrosomal contents are filled with electron-dense tubularsubstructures. The nucleus filled with homogeneously condensed chromatin forms a processat one side, developing the nucleus-flagellum transition region. The centriolar adjunctparallelled to the nucleus connects the nucleus with the mid-piece/flagellum. The flagellum isformed by a9+9+2axoneme, two mitochondrial derivatives and two accessory bodies. Themitochondrial derivatives with an orderly array of peripheral cristae are symmetrical. Theaccessory bodies are small and slightly elliptical. The end of the axoneme shows progressive loss of microtubules.