Lecture – 15 AND 16 : Reproduction in insects
Usually Insects are bisexual. But sometimes reproduction also
occurs by
Parthenogenesis and hermaphroditism.
The reproductive system is divided in to two parts namely internal genitalia
and external genitalia. The internal genitalia serve to the development of
germ cells. The external genitalia accomplish the union of two sexes and
enable the female to deposit eggs.
Female reproductive system:
It consists of
a pair of ovaries which possess number of
ovarioles, a pair of oviducts,
common oviduct / Median oviduct ,
spermatheca ,
a pair of accessory glands and
Bursa copulatrix or copulatory pouch or genital chamber or vagina
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Fig. 38 Female reproductive system
(Source: Taken from General and apllied Entomology – K.K. Nayar, T.N.
Ananthakrishnan and B.V. David (10th edition, 1993). Tata McGraw-Hill
Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi., India.)
1. Ovaries: These are the prominent visceral organs present on the either
side of alimentary canal. Anteriorly the ovaries get connected with the
body wall by means of thread like suspensory ligaments. The ovaries are
covered with fat body and are richly covered with trachea. Each ovary
consists of a no of ovarioles or egg tubes.
Ovarioles: Each ovariole is enveloped by a double layered cellular wall.
The outer wall is called ovarial sheath which has an abundant supply of
tracheae. The inner layer called tunica propria is elastic in nature. Each
ovariole at its terminal has a filament which unites with other filaments to
form a suspensary ligament .The ligament is attached to the body wall or
dorsal diaphragm and thus helps the ovaries to remain suspended at a
proper place . The eggs are discharged in to the lateral oviducts.
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Lateral oviducts: Proximal end of the ovarioles of each ovary join to form a
lateral oviduct on each side. The wall of oviduct is glandular and muscular
Median Oviduct: Two lateral oviducts combine to form a median oviduct
Vagina: In most of the insects median oviduct does not open directly to
outside. It opens in to a tubular genital chamber or vagina formed by
invagination of bodywall from VIII segment . The vagina opens outside and
the opening is called vulva. Vulva serves both purposes of receiving the
sperms and discharging the eggs.
Bursa Copulatrix: In some insects the genital chamber or vagina develops
a separate pouch called Bursa Copulatrix in to which insects have two
reproductive openings. One is vulva for receiving the sperms open on VIII
sternum and another one is ovipore or gonopore on IX segment for
discharging eggs.
Eg: Lepidoptera and water beetles
Spermathea: It is a sac like structure consisting of a spermathecal gland
and opens in to vagina through spermathecal duct. This is mainly used for
storing the sperms. It also produces some fluids responsible for longevity
of cells for several hours.
Accessory glands: These are a pair of collateral glands which open in to
the distal portion of vagina and secrete the substance responsible for the
formation of ootheca of cockroach, preying mantid and poisonous
secretions in case of Hymenoptera. This sticky substances are useful for
attachment of egg to the substrate on which they are laid.
Each ovariole in insects consists of a group of tapering units called
ovarioles. The number of ovarioles in an ovary varies greatly in different
insects , usually 4 to 8. In Isoptera more than 2000
Typical ovariole or egg tube consists of 3 parts
namely [Link] filament
2. Egg tube
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3. Supporting stalk or pedicel
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Terminal filament: of all the ovarioles in a ovary unite distally with one
another in a suspensory ligament. The ligaments from the two ovaries are
combined in a single median ligament which is attached to the tergal
plated of thorax.
The Egg tube is divided in to two
parts [Link] chamber or
Germarium
[Link] of growth or vitellarium
Germarium : Also called as egg chamber which contain the primordial
germ cells or undifferentiated cells. These cells give rise to three types of
cells . [Link] cells developing in to oogonia and finally oocytes
[Link] cells or nurse cells
trophocytes. [Link] cells
(i) Vitellarium or Zone of growth : It occupies the major part of the
ovariole and contains large number of oocytes and eggs in different
stages of development
The egg cells grow and attain their mature stage. In the anterior region of
vitellarium the nurse cells and oocytes remain mixed up and assume the
central position while follicle cells take peripheral position. In posterior
end oocytes are enclosed by follicle cells to form follicular layer. The nurse
cells absorb nutrients from haemolymph through follicular cells and
transmit them to oocytes. In some case follicle cells provide nutrients to
the oocytes where nurse cells are absent.
Types of ovarioles :
Based on the presence or absence of nutritive cells and their location
ovarioles are categorized in to two (Fig. 39).
1. Panoistic ovarioles: In these, the nutritive cells are absent and
the development of oocytes takes place with the help of follicular
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epithelial cells
e.g.: Odonata, Dictyoptera, Orthoptera and Ephemeroptera
2. Meriostic ovarioles: They contain trophocytes / nutritive cells
which vary in their position.
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Based on the position of trophocytes Meriostic ovarioles are classified into
(i) Polytrophic ovarioles: where developing oocyte and trophocytes
arranged alternatively within the vitellarium.
e.g.: Mecoptera, Dermaptera, Psocoptera
(ii) Acrotrophic ovarioles: Also called teletrophic ovarioles where the
trophocytes are present in the germarium (apex) and are connected with
the growing or developing oocytes by cytoplasmic strands.
e.g.: Hemiptera and Coleoptera
A B C Terminal filament
g
g
c = cord joining nutritive cells
n n
with ooccytes
c
fe = follicular epithelium
o o
g = germarium
o
fe n = nutritive cells
fe n
fe
A = Panoistic; B = Polytrophic; C = Acrotrophic
Fig. 39 Types of Ovarioles
(Source: Taken from General and apllied Entomology – K.K. Nayar, T.N.
Ananthakrishnan and B.V. David (10th edition, 1993). Tata McGraw-Hill
Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi., India.)
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Male reproductive system
Internal male reproductive organs consists of
-a pair of testis ,
-a pair of vasa deferens,
-seminal vesicle
-ejaculatory duct
-accessory glands a) mesodenia b) ectodenia and
-Genitalia
Testis : The size of testis is practically same as that of ovaries in
Apterygota and very much smaller in Pterygota . They lie in visceral
cavity above the alimentary canal and are connected to the body wall
through translucent ducts and are well supplied with trachea and fat body
tissues.
Each testis consists of number of oval shaped structures known as follicles
or sperm tubes. Each follicle has a layer of epithelial cells. The entire
follicle is covered by a peritoneal membrane where as the testis is
completely enveloped within a coat known as scrotum.
Structure of follicle
Each individual follicle is divided into a series of zones (or) areas
characterized by the presence of the sex cells i.e. sperms in different
stages of development. These zones are zone of germarium, zone of
growth , zone of division and reduction and zone of transformation.
(i) Germarium : It is the region containing primordial germ cells or
spermatogonia which undergo multiplication. (Zone of spermatogonia)
(ii) Zone of growth: It is the area where spermatogonia increase in size,
undergo repeated mitosis and develop in to spermatocytes.(Zone of
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spermatocytes)
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(iii) Zone of division and reduction : It is the area where spermatocytes
undergo meiosis and give rise to spermatids (Zone of spermatids)
(iv) Zone of transformation : It is the area where spermatids get
transformed in to spermatozoa.(Zone of spermatozoa)
Spermatozoa are a group of cells which are enclosed in testicular cyst
cells from which they are released in to vasa efferens, the tubular
connections of the follicles which combine together to form the vasa
deferens.
2. Vasa deferens : These are the long tubes formed by the union of vasa
efferens which receives the sperms from testis and allow their
transport to the ejaculatory duct (Fig. 37).
4. Seminal vesicles: Each vasa deferens become enlarged posteriorly to
form a sac like structure called seminal vesicle for storage of spermatozoa
for some time.
4. Ejaculatory duct: Both the vasa deferens of the two testis unite
posteriorly to form a common median ejaculatory duct. The terminal
section of ejaculatory duct is enclosed in a finger like evagination of body
wall , male copulatory organ or aedeagus or penis.
5. Accessory glands: These are 1-3 pairs of glands which open in to the
ejaculatory duct. In most cases their secretion mix with spermatozoa.
These glands are called mushroom glands in cockroaches and mantids
because of their appearance as mushrooms. This secretions facilitates
sperm transmission from male to female.
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Fig. 37. Male reproductive
system
Types of Reproduction.
Insects are bisexual, they can undergo sexual reproduction for
producing either the eggs (or) the young ones. However they also
reproduce by other means. Different types of reproduction in insects are:
1. Oviparity : Insects reproduce by laying eggs by the female on any
substrate either singly (or) in mass (or) in groups which later hatch and
produce the young ones.
e.g.: moths and butterflies.
2. Viviparity : It is the phenomenon of reproduction where the female gives
birth to the young ones instead of laying eggs. Embryonic development is
completed within the female and the embryo gets nourishment from the
mother and produce the larva/young ones within the haemocoel. These
young ones after some time emerges out from the mother, based on the
source of nourishment. Viviparity is classified in to 4 types.
(i) Ovo-viviparity: Insects retain the eggs within the genital track until
the eggs are ready to hatch (or) giving birth to young ones. However
immediately after hatching , the young ones will be released outside.
Hence, no special structures are developed for nourishment. e.g.:
Thysanoptera
(ii) Adenoparous viviparity : It is a type of viviparity where the eggs have
sufficient yolk, complete their embryonic development and retain in the
uterus. Eggs hatch and the young ones get nourishment from special
nourishment glands called milk glands which contains milk that have lipids
and proteins. When young ones are fully developed, it emerges from the
mother and forms in to a pupa within short time and no feeding phase is
seen. e.g.: Glossina pupipara of Diptera.
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(iii) Pseudoplacental viviparity : It is a phenomenon where insect have
eggs with little (or) no yolk. Hatching takes place within the mother and
the nourishment
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for the young one is received through embryonic maternal structure
called pseudoplacenta
e.g.: Psocoptera, Dermaptera, aphids etc.,
(iv) Haemocoelous viviparity: It is a type of reproduction where the eggs
are retained within the haemocoel and the embryonic development as
well as the nourishment of young one takes place through the transfer of
nutrients from the haemolymph of mother. After development, young one
comes out either through genital canal or by the rupture in the walls of
the parent. Eggs have no chorion but become surrounded from an early
stage by a trophic membrane through which nutrient material are
supplied from the maternal tissues. e.g: strepsipterans & some larvae of
cecidomyids (Diptera)
3. Parthenogenesis : It is the ability of the females to reproduce without
fertilization / copulation with males. This usually occurs due to the genetic
characters, due to heredity, failure in finding a mate, hormonal changes
within the body and weather factors. This parthenogenesis is classified as
(i) Sporadic parthenogenesis : occurs occasionally e.g.: silkworm.
(ii) Constant parthenogenesis : occurs regularly. e.g.: thrips
(iii) Cyclic parthenogenesis : it is nothing but the alternation of
generations where parthenogenesis occur in alternation with the sexual
reproduction. e.g.: aphids.
II. Based on the sexes of the off springs produced, parthenogenesis can be
(i) Arrhenotoky : only males are produced e.g.: Hymenoptera
(ii) Thelytoky : only females are produced e.g.: acridids
(iii) Amphytoky : both females and males are produced e.g.:
hymenopterans
4. Paedogenesis (or) Neoteny : It is a phenomenon where the immature
insects or stages give birth to young ones. This usually occurs due to the
hormonal imbalance. Most of the insects which reproduce by
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paedogenesis also reproduce by parthenogenesis. e.g.: cecidomyids.
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5. Polyembryony: It is a type of reproduction where insects reproduce
by giving birth to two or more young ones instead of a single one, as
two or more embryos are produced from a single egg. e.g.: endo
parasitic Hymenoptera like platygaster
6. Hermaphroditism : It is a type of reproduction where both male and
female gonads are present in the same individual. It may be a functional
hermaphroditism as in case of Icerya purchsi (or) non functional as in case
of stonefly, Perla marginata
7. Castration : It is a type of reproduction where the separation of the
individuals occurs mainly due to the development of the reproductive
organs. The insects with well developed ovaries develop in to females
(queens), the insects with well developed testis develop in to males
(drones) and insects with underdeveloped ovaries develop in to workers.
e.g.: social insects such as honey bees.
8. Alternation of generation : Insects reproduce by parthenogenesis and
bisexual reproduction by alteration of generations. e.g.: aphids which
reproduce by parthenogenesis in summer and undergo sexual
reproduction. in winter.
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