Abstract
The structural and ultrastructural studies that we carried out on the oviducts in Hemidiaptomus ingens provinciae and Mixodiaptomus kupelwieseri, two fresh water calanoid copepods, revealed the presence of an epithelium organized in small syncytia with typically glandular features, namely, highly developed rough endoplasmic reticulum, numerous dictyosomes, and secretory granules. In the mature females, both the appearance of luminal secretions and the very clear ultrastructural differences observed between the organelles, particularly the secretory granules, allowed us to distinguish three zones: a proximal, median, and distal zone. All the secretions observed through the three zones play a role in the formation of the ovisac, in which the eggs are laid. During egg laying or immediately after, the lumen of the oviduct is very small and even undetectable in the proximal zone, whereas no secretion is observed in the median and distal zones. No additional structure, such as a seminal receptacle, was found associated to the genital ducts. Finally the oviduct wall is entirely devoid of any muscular network.
Published Version
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