Haplodiploidy in Pharyngodonid (Oxyuroidea: Nematoda) parasites of Testudo graeca.

Abstract

Gametogenesis is described in Tachygonetria conica, T. dentata, T. macrolaimus, T. numidica, T. longicollis longicollis, T. l. pusilla, T. l. setosa, Mehdiella uncinata and M. microstoma, parasites of Testudo graeca from Tunisia. All species reproduced by haplodiploidy (males developed from unfertilized eggs and were haploid and females developed from fertilized eggs and were diploid). Metaphase of oogonial divisions contained ten rod-shaped chromosomes and meiosis in females resulted in two polar bodies and an egg pronucleus. Embryos in eggs in utero contained either five or ten chromosomes depending presumably on whether or not they developed from fertilized ova. Metaphase of spermatogonial divisions contained five rod-shaped chromosomes but divisions just anterior to the seminal vesicle contained five short round chromosomes similar to meiotic chromosomes but consisting of only two chromatids. Males of haplodiploid species have no homologous chromosomes and it is suggested that meiosis during spermatogenesis, rather than being replaced by mitosis as previously suggested (Adamson, 1981), simply begins at the second meiotic division.