2000 Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 105-111
In a Prostriata, Ixodes ovatus Neumann (Acari: Ixodidae), the fate and ultrastructural changes of male germ cells were observed during their reproductive behavior including copulation and feeding. Before copulation, male germ cells in the male seminal vesicle were prospermia. After copulation, the timing of spermateleosis and ultrastructural changes during spermateleosis were the same as those in other ixodids. In I. ovatus, endospermatophores were fragmented in the cervical vagina, although they occur within the receptaculum seminis in Metastriata. After fragmentation of endospermatophores, the male germ cells reached a common oviduct, where they were stored for at least 30 days. On day 30 after copulation, the ultrastructure of the male germ cells in the common oviduct was the same as on day 2 after copulation. On the other hand, the male germ cells reached the oviducts on day 4 after engorgement (corresponding to day 9 after copulation). This indicates that feeding advances ascent of male germ cells.
