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Electron microscopical observations on vitellocytes and germocytes inNematoplana coelogynoporoides (Plathelminthes, Proseriata)

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Summary

Fine-structural features of vitellaria and germaria inNematoplana coelogynoporoides are documented and compared with those of other free-living plathelminths with ectolecithal eggs. Emphasis is mainly put on the pattern of eggshell material, yolk bodies deposited in vitellocytes, and marginal granules of the female germ cells. In this species, encompassed in the taxon Proseriata Unguiphora, the eggshell granules show a meandering pattern also known from species of the taxon Proseriata Lithophora. In contrast, the yolk globules exhibit crystalline components unknown from the Lithophora. The marginal granules in the ooplasm have an extremely large diameter. They consist of a flocculent core and a crescent-shaped cortex. Marginal granules of this appearance have not been found in any other taxon of free-living Neoophora.

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Abbreviations

cc :

crystalline component

co :

cortex

gER :

granular endoplasmic reticulum

go :

Golgi complex

gl :

glycogen

lp :

lipid droplet

mg :

marginal granule

n :

nucleus

nl :

nucleolus

sg :

eggshell granule

sp :

spermatozoa

yg :

yolk globule

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  1. II. Zoologisches Institut und Museum der Universität Göttingen, Berliner Strasse 28, W-3400, Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany

    Beate Sopott-Ehlers

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  1. Beate Sopott-Ehlers
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Sopott-Ehlers, B. Electron microscopical observations on vitellocytes and germocytes inNematoplana coelogynoporoides (Plathelminthes, Proseriata). Zoomorphology 110, 293–300 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01633101

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01633101

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