title: Morphology of the male reproductive system, sperm ultrastructure and γ-irradiation of the red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae).
abstract: In the present study we describe the morphology of the male reproductive apparatus and sperm ultrastructure of the red palm weevil - an invasive pest of several palm tree species - as well as the most important steps of spermatogenesis. The reproductive apparatus consists of a pair of testes (each formed by two lobes) a long tube-like accessory gland, a prostate gland and a small accessory gland. Characteristic features of the sperm are 90-100 μm total length, 10 μm nucleus, two mitochondrial derivatives, two accessory bodies, one well-developed puff-like structure and a typical insect 9+9+2 flagellar axoneme. One of the methods used for the biological control of pests is the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), for the evaluation of which we make a preliminary comparison of the sperm ultrastructure of non-irradiated and irradiated weevils (at a dose of 80 Gray).
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura, Centro di Ricerca per l'Agrobiologia e la Pedologia (CRA-ABP), via di Lanciola 12/a, Cascine del Riccio, 50125 Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.paoli@entecra.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy. Electronic address: romano.dallai@unisi.it.
authors.forename: Romano
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dallai
authors.affiliation: ENEA Casaccia, UTAGRI-ECO, via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: mcristofaro@enea.it.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cristofaro
authors.affiliation: ENEA Casaccia, UTAGRI-ECO, via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: silvia.arnone@enea.it.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arnone
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura, Centro di Ricerca per l'Agrobiologia e la Pedologia (CRA-ABP), via di Lanciola 12/a, Cascine del Riccio, 50125 Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: valeria.francardi@entecra.it.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Francardi
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura, Centro di Ricerca per l'Agrobiologia e la Pedologia (CRA-ABP), via di Lanciola 12/a, Cascine del Riccio, 50125 Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: piofederico.roversi@entecra.it.
authors.forename: Pio Federico
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Roversi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D012098:Reproduction; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D048889:Weevils / Q000648:ultrastructure*
keywords: Genital apparatus; Genital system; Insect spermatogenesis; Sterile insect technique (SIT); TEM