Gonads and gametogenesis in Chaetodactylus osmiae (Acariformes: Astigmata: Chaetodactylidae) a parasite of solitary bees

Chaetodactylus osmiae (Dufour, 1839) is a mite parasitizing the solitary bee - Osmia rufa L.- used as a commercial pollinator. In this study we present the anatomy of female and male reproductive systems of this species as well as its gonadal structure and gametogenesis at the ultrastructural level. The reproductive systems are similar to those of other Astigmata. The ovaries are paired and each contains germ-line cells – a giant nutritive ovarian cell connected via funnel-type intercellular bridges to oogonia and previtellogenic oocytes. Germinal cells are embedded in several large somatic stroma cells. Remarkable numerous protrusions of the nutritive ovarian cell penetrate into the stroma cell cytoplasm. Conspicuous ER cisterns run close and parallel to the surface of the germinal cells. Oocytes entering vitellogenesis disassociate with the nutritive cell and a vitelline envelope composed of heterogeneous material appears on their surface. When vitellogenesis is completed, the oocytes are full of lipid droplets and two types of yolk spheres; the vitelline envelope transforms into a thin and homogeneous chorion.Paired testes are located on one side of the body, whereas the opposite side is filled by a male accessory gland. In testis, germinal cells are embedded in a few somatic stroma cells. The earliest spermatogonia form a compact germarium, whereas later stages are dispersed randomly within the testis. Spermatocytes are characterized by a superficial spongy layer, formation of mitochondrial derivatives, loss of nuclear envelope and condensation of chromatin in threads. A single electron-dense lamella appears during the spermatid stage, separating chromatin threads from a large spongy body surrounded by arcuate, double-membrane bounded cisterns. In spermatids, the superficial spongy layer is absent. The testicular central cell in the germarium and structures related to meiotic division were not observed in the testes. Spermatozoa are multiform cells (approx. 4x11µm) containing electron-dense lamella (ca. 45 nm thick) surrounded by mitochondrial derivatives which separate chromatin threads 45-50 nm thick from remnants of the spongy body i.e. arcuate cistern profiles. Spermatozoa deposited in female spermatheca are more electron dense; the electron-dense lamella is deeply folded several times, whereas chromatin threads are present in the center of the spermatozoon and are either flanked by lamella folds or located more peripherally under the plasmalemma. Remnants of the spongy body are not discernible.

Spermatogenesis in Animals as Revealed by Electron Microscopy

This paper deals with spermatogenesis in Cipangopaludina malleata Reeve, with special regard to the relation between the nutritive cells and the developing spermatids. The nutritive cell gives rise to numerous, slender or broad, elongate pseudopodia which extend from its surface toward the seminiferous lumen. They are characteristically provided with rows of circular, oval, and elongate profiles identical in form and position with the profiles of the endoplasmic reticulum. As the elongate pseudopodia increase in number, they become more slender and more closely packed until they coalesce into a continuous sheet circumferentially disposed around the nucleus and the full length of the middle piece of the typical spermatid. Thus the mantle of the typical spermatozoon of the pond snail is formed by a thin fold of the cytoplasm of the nutritive cells. This wrapping appears to contain 16 to 18 elements of the smooth surfaced endoplasmic reticulum, which run parallel and helically (50 to 100 mµ apart). It is suggested that these constitute a conductor system for nutritional supply from the nutritive cells to the developing typical spermatids. The mantle is assumed to be a transient structure which disappears when the sperms are detached. The atypical spermatids develop while lodged in deep indentations of the surface of the nutritive cells.