Abstract
In some insect species, sperm are bundled after spermatogenesis and transferred to the female. The function of such a bundle of sperm remains unknown. In this study, sperm of 29 species of Cicadomorpha and 12 species of Fulgoromorpha belonging to the infraorder Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera) were observed. Sperm from families Cicadidae, Aphropholidae, and Cicadellidae were attached at their tips to a rope- or rod-like hyaline material and formed large bundles: however, sperm of the other families did not. The hyaline material of the sperm-bundles was digested when treated with trypsin, suggesting it was proteinous. Spermbundles transferred to the female were broken down in a bursa copulatrix (ejaculate receiving organ) where sperm were released from the bundles and removed to a spermatheca (sperm storage organ). The spermbinding material disappeared (probably digested) in the bursa. This material is, therefore, a possible nutrient investment from the male to the female in Cicadidae, Aphropholidae, and Cicadellidae.
