Publication: First record of intersex in neotenic reproductives of the termite Cryptotermes brevis (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae)
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Coadvisor
Graduate program
Undergraduate course
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Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Type
Article
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Acesso restrito
Abstract
Drywood termites of the family Kalotermitidae present a very flexible developmental pattern, in which pseudergates are totipotent and may become reproductives. In this study, three colonies of Cryptotermes brevis headed by neotenic reproductives were used: (i) colony A, with a primary king and a neotenic queen; (ii) colony B, with a primary queen and a neotenic king; and (iii) colony C, with neotenic king and queen. The primary king from colony A and the neotenic king from colony B presented well-developed reproductive systems, with conspicuous testicular lobes and cysts containing spermatozoa also observed in the seminal vesicles. The neotenic queen of colony A and the primary queen of colony B had ovaries with several oocytes in early developmental stages with some of them already vitellogenic and terminal, which suggests egg-laying activity. Both of these queens presented the spermathecae lumen filled with spermatozoa. The queen of colony C had vitellogenic oocytes; however, the oocytes were not terminal and the lumen of spermathecae was devoid of spermatozoa and secretions. The seminal vesicles of colony C neotenic king have no spermatozoa. This king displayed a previtellogenic oocyte among its testicular lobes, which suggested that this individual was an intersex.
Description
Keywords
drywood termite, oocytes, reproductive system, testicles
Language
English
Citation
Entomological Science. Hoboken: Wiley, v. 20, n. 1, p. 142-149, 2017.
