Abstract
The sperm ultrastructure of two ricaniid species, Pochazia shantungensis (Chou & Lu) and Ricania speculum (Walker), was investigated using light and transmission electron microscopy. Both species have monoflagellate sperm, the shape and ultrastructure of the mature spermatozoon of these two species are similar in morphology, and 128 spermatozoa are organized into sperm bundles with their heads embedded in a homogenous matrix forming the spermatodesmata. The individual sperm is filiform and includes the head, neck and flagellum. The head is needle-like, with a bilayer acrosome and an inferior elongated nucleus which is formed of homogeneously compact and electron-dense chromatin. The neck region is indistinct and is comprised of the centriole and centriole adjunct with a homogeneous dense substance. The long flagellum has the typical 9 + 9 + 2 axoneme microtubule pattern and two symmetrical mitochondrial derivatives with an orderly array of cristae flanking both sides, and a pair of well-developed fishhook-shaped accessory bodies. Current evidence shows that ricaniid species have D-shaped mitochondrial derivatives in cross-section and a serrated electron-dense region. The phylogenetic relationship of Fulgoroidea with other superfamilies in Auchenorrhyncha is briefly discussed.
Highlights
Spermatozoa are highly specialized male gametes in sexually reproductive animals, and are characterized by patterns of rapid and divergent morphological evolution (Birkhead et al 2009)
It was found that the acrosome complex of Nilaparvata lugens was a monolayer and branched-shaped structure and was wrapped by a membrane (Dai et al 1996)
Soulier-Perkins and Bourgoin (1998) explored the copulatory mechanisms in Fulgoromorpha and found that sexual selection, three modes of deposition and sperm storage occurs within the Fulgoromorpha
Summary
Spermatozoa are highly specialized male gametes in sexually reproductive animals, and are characterized by patterns of rapid and divergent morphological evolution (Birkhead et al 2009). Planthoppers (Fulgoroidea) are among the most dominant and diverse groups of phytophagous hemipterans with 13,600 species worldwide (Urban and Cryan 2007, Bourgoin 2019). Many species in this group are economically significant pests of major agricultural crops due to their high reproductive potential and capacity to transmit plant pathogens (Urban and Cryan 2007). Studies on the sperm ultrastructure of planthoppers have addressed four species, including Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) and Muellerianella fairmairei Perris (in Delphacidae), Ricania marginalis (Walker) (in Ricaniidae) and Cixius nervosus Linnaeus (in Cixiidae) (Folliot and Maillet 1970, Dai et al 1996, Tian et al 2006). Planthoppers transfer sperm directly or by using a spermatophore; transferred into the spermatheca at the bursa copulatrix ductus level within the bursa (Soulier-Perkins and Bourgoin 1998)
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