Development of the germ cells and reproductive primordia in male and female embryos of Rhodnius prolixus Stål (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

Abstract

Newly deposited eggs of Rhodnius prolixus lack a visible pole plasm and require 14 days to develop at 27 °C and 70% RH. The first germ cells originate at 9% of embryogenesis by asynchronous mitosis of blastodermal cells behind the germ Anlage at the posterior pole of the egg. From 9 to 17%, these proliferate to a mean of 270 cells and, from 13 to 18%, migrate forward over the dorsal surface of the mesoderm and lodge in abdominal segments 3–7. Between 22 and 30%, they shift laterally and segregate into three or four paired clumps between segments 3 and 4, 4 and 5, 5 and 6, and, sometimes, 6 and 7 and, from 30 to 37%, gradually assemble into a continuous longitudinal mass on either side of segments 3–6, where they begin to associate with mesodermal cells. Between 37 and 46%, these collect between (males) and around the germ cells to form the rudiments of the terminal filaments (females), inner and outer gonadal sheaths, interstitial cells (males), and primary exit ducts. Dorsally situated sheath cells then invaginate ventrally into each gonadal rudiment, partitioning it into seven compartments, each containing a mean of 15 oogonia or 16 spermatogonia. These seem to fuse into a rosette, at least in females, but do not begin to divide again until after hatch. Excluded germ cells lodge within the rudiments of one or both exit ducts. The evolutionary and functional aspects of our findings are addressed and new observations are presented on the mechanism of anatrepsis.