Abstract. In the laboratory, not all females of the seed bug Lygaeus simulans Decked, 1985, produced fertilized eggs after copula tion: 26.7% of the females were not inseminated and 5% were inseminated but did not lay fertilized eggs; only in 40% of the couples did copulation result in fertile eggs. The remaining 28.3% of couples refrained from mating. Duration of copulation was associated with insemination and fertilization: (i) fertile eggs were produced by only one couple that copulated for less than 60 min and all those that copulated for more than 360 min, (ii) probability of fertilization increased steadily with duration of copulation between 60 and 360 min, and (iii) duration of copulation was significantly different for couples that showed different insemination status.A possible morphological explanation for this time dependency was revealed by examining the genitalia of 69 couples freezefixed in copula after different periods in copulation. Because of the intricate structure of the genitalia in L. simulans, a male takes a long time to manoeuver its intromittent organ into the narrow insemination duct of the female. Only if completely inserted is the tip of the intromittent organ close enough for successful ejaculation of sperm into the spermatheca. The freeze-fixing experiment re vealed that it usually took the male more than 30 min to locate the entrance to the insemination duct and another 30 min for full penetration. This explains why copulations that lasted less than 60 min failed, since insemination began only after intromission was complete.The experiments, therefore, indicated that there is a relationship between the complex morphology of the genitalia and the low rates of insemination and fertilization in L. simulans.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Copeia. Syncope antenori, inhabiting the Serrania del Sira mountain range (east-central Peru), is a microhylid whose larval life is adapted to bromeliads. Characteristic features include few eggs arranged in a filmlike clutch, a short developmental period, and limited larval growth. Syncope antenori deposits eggs in terrestrial, water-filled bromeliads (Guzmania weberbaueri). Eggs and tadpoles, found during the rainy season from Sept. to March, complete development within 25 days. Syncope antenori tadpoles are free swimming, nonfeeding, and have heavily yolkfilled gastrointestinal tracts until metamorphosis. They belong to reproductive mode 6 of Duellman and Trueb's classification system. This mode of reproduction was previously unknown for the neotropics. T HE genus Syncope Walker (1973) includestwo species, S. antenori Walker and S. carvalhoi Nelson. Syncope carvalhoi is known from a single locality in eastern Peru (Rio Ampi-Yacii, Nelson, 1975), whereas S. antenori is more widespread along the eastern slopes of the Andes from Ecuador to Peru. These diminutive frogs with reduced digits and toes are found in leaf litter on the forest floor, on leaves of low herbs and ferns, and in terrestrial bromeliads (Walker, 1973; Nelson, 1975). Although the biology and anatomy of adults are fairly well described, larval development of Syncope is unknown. Walker (1973) found heavily pigmented eggs in bromeliads from which adult S. antenori were collected, but he could not definitely assign them to Syncope. Eggs of S. carvalhoi described by Nelson (1975) lack any pigmentation. Based on the different pigmentation of eggs, Nelson suggested that two modes of reproduction occur in Syncope: (1) indirect development in S. antenori, and (2) direct development in S. carvalhoi. In contrast, Duellman (1978) and Duellman and Trueb (1985) intimated from the small number of ovarian eggs that S. antenori undergoes direct development (reproductive mode 17). Our investigation revealed that S. antenori has freeswimming, nonfeeding tadpoles that develop in water-filled bromeliads (mode 6 of Duellman and Trueb, 1985). This kind of reproduction is known from three microhylid genera from Madagascar: Anodonthyla boulengerii, Platypelis (= Platyhyla) grandis, and Plethodontohyla notosticta (Blommers-Schl6sser, 1975), and the Bornean microhylids Kalophrynus pleurostigma and Kalophrynus sp. (Inger, 1966; Berry, 1972). In this paper, we examine larval characteristics and overall growth of the bromeliad-dwelling tadpoles of S. antenori. The description of larval development in the form of...
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