Placentation in the lizard Gerrhonotus coeruleus with a comparison to the extraembryonic membranes of the oviparous Gerrhonotus multicarinatus (Sauria, Anguidae).

Abstract

Paraffin sections of an ontogenetic series of embryos of the viviparous lizard Gerrhonotus coeruleus and the oviparous congener G. multicarinatus reveal that although general features of the development of the chorioallantoic and yolk sac membranes are similar, differences are evident in the distribution of the chorioallantoic membrane in late stage embryos. An acellular shell membrane surrounds the egg throughout gestation in both species although the thickness of this structure is much reduced in G. coeruleus over that of G. multicarinatus. The initial vascular membrane to contact the shell membrane in both species is a trilaminar omphalopleure (choriovitelline membrane) composed of ectoderm, mesoderm of the area vasculosa, and endoderm. This transitory membrane is replaced by the vascularized chorioallantois as the allantois expands to contact the inner surface of the chorion. Prior to the establishment of the chorioallantois at the embryonic pole, a membrane begins to form within the yolk ventral to the sinus terminalis. This membrane, which becomes vascularized, extends across the entire width of the abembryonic region and isolates a mass of yolk ventral to the yolk mass proper. The outer membrane of the yolk pole is a nonvascular bilaminar omphalopleure (chorionic ectoderm and yolk endoderm). In G. multicarinatus the bilaminar omphalopleure is supported internally by the vascularized allantoic membrane, whereas in G. coeruleus the allantois does not extend beyond the margin of the isolated yolk mass and the bilaminar omphalopleure is supported by the vascularized intravitelline membrane. Both the chorioallantoic placenta (uterine epithelium, chorionic ectoderm and mesoderm, and allantoic mesoderm and endoderm) and the yolk sac placenta at the abembryonic pole (uterine epithelium, chorionic ectoderm, and yolk sac endoderm) persist to the end of gestation in G. coeruleus.