A comparison of the spermatozoa of OratosquiMa stephensoni and Squilla mantis (Crustacea, Stomatopoda) with comments on the phylogeny of the Malacostraca

Abstract

Each stomatopod sperm, aflagellate and obovoid, is surrounded by an electron dense coat. A spermatophore is absent. The discus‐shaped acrosome vesicle is penetrated and underlain by a straight, slender acrosome rod (perforatorium) ensheathed, below the vesicle, in subacrosomal material. Feulgen‐positive granular material, indicating chromatin, fills most of the length of the cell but there is no certain nuclear membrane. Two centrioles, consisting of doublets each with a radial “foot” as in decapods and peracarids, occur near the acrosome and like it are embedded in the chromatin. Myelin‐like membranes are associated with degenerating mitochondria in the posterior region of the cell. Thiéry‐positive granules are aggregated as a glycogen body posteriorly in the cell. Spermatozoa1 ultrastructure confirms monophyly of the mysid–amphipod–isopod– cumacean section of the Peracarida but affinities of the tanaids are uncertain. A closer phylogenetic relationship of Phyllocarida to the Branchiopoda than to the Malacostraca is suggested. A weak similarity (synapomorphy?) of syncarids and peracarids is the filiform perforatorium bipassing the nucleus. Stomatopods resemble decapods in their diffuse sperm chromatin but are placed below the syncarid–peracarid–decapod assemblage.