RESEARCHES ON THE COAST OF SOMALIA. HETEROCHEIRA MARTELLII ARDOIN, 1974 (COLEOPTERA TENEBRIONIDAE): FIRST DESCRIPTION OF THE LARVA AND PUPA

Abstract

SUMMARY Seasonal and pinealectomy induced changes in weight and histological profile of the gonads have been studied during the recrudescent, breeding and regression phases of the feral pigeons, Columba livia (Gmelin). Whereas the intact birds showed enlarged active gonads during the recrudescent and breeding periods, the pinealectomised birds depicted involuted gonads with germ cell degeneration in the seminiferous tubules of testis and arrested folliculogenesis with marked atresia in the ovary. The reduction in weight induced by pinealectomy during these periods ranged from 60 to 70%. The histological appearance of the gonads of pinealectomised birds was markedly more regressed than the normally regressing gonads of intact birds during the nonbreeding phase. Pinealectomy in the nonbreeding phase appeared to hasten the process and degree of gonadal regression occurring in the intact birds. These observations are taken to indicate the progonadal role of the pineal in tropical wild pigeons and this is disc...