The spermatozoon of onychophorans. 2. Peripatoides leuckarti.
The spermatozoon of the Onychophoran Peripatoides leuckarti is described and compared with that of Peripatopsis previously investigated. The general shape of the cell is the same, with persisting typical characteristic of a manchette and of nine accessory tubules surrounding the axoneme. There is a difference in the mitochondrial derivatives, which are two and partially located in a nuclear posterior concavity. But the most significant finding is the presence of a thin, flat acrosome surrounding the nucleus, which is absent from the other species. The presence of the acrosome is related to the existence in Peripatoides of big eggs, which are absent in Peripatopsis.
D000177:Acrosome / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000502:physiology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D013077:Sperm Head / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013082:Sperm Tail / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000648:ultrastructure*