Annual cycle of sperm storage in spermathecae of the red-spotted newt,Notophthalmus viridescens (Amphibia: Salamandridae)

Sever, David M.; Rania, Lisa C.; Krenz, John D.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-4687(199602)227:2<155::aid-jmor3>3.0.co;2-8

Cited by 27 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Sperm storage in female salamanders has been well studied from the aspects of sperm viability and spermathecal structures (e.g. Sever et al. 1996; Sever 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout the duration of the study, all males exhibited prominent secondary sexual characteristics (SSCs) such as increased tail height, tarsal pads and a yellow crescent in the posterior cloaca (Sever et al. 1996).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). Females store sperm in their spermathecae until oviposition occurs at the end of the breeding season (up to 6 mo; Sever et al. 1996), and eggs are fertilized with stored sperm as they oviposit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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When do the Costs of Spermatogenesis Constrain Sperm Expenditure? Remarks on the Pattern of the Spermatogenic Cycle

Takahashi

Parris

2008

Ethology

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The costs of spermatogenesis constrain sperm expenditure when sperm production per day is limited. Thus, males are challenged to allocate available resources to sperm production and other life history functions. However, this prevailing assumption is not applicable to species in which spermatogenesis becomes quiescent during the breeding season. Males of these species prepare large quantities of sperm before the breeding season. Among these species, constraints on ejaculates have been intensively investigated in salamanders that deposit spermatophores. Although it is predicted that sperm expenditure should not be limited because of abundantly prepared sperm, spermatophore deposition is often limited during the breeding season when vas deferens are full of sperm. We tested a hypothesis regarding limited spermatophore deposition by measuring sperm quantity and volume of spermatophores sequentially deposited by male eastern newts Notophthalmus viridescens. A male newt rarely deposits more than three spermatophores per mating. If depletion of non‐sperm components of spermatophores limits spermatophore deposition, we predicted that spermatophore volume decreases while sperm quantity remains constant as a male deposits more spermatophores. Alternatively, some regulative mechanisms allow a limited portion of available sperm to be expended per mating, in which sperm quantity is predicted to decrease while the spermatophore volume remains constant. Finally, depletion of non‐sperm components may regulate sperm expenditure, which predicted that both spermatophore volume and sperm quantity decrease. We found that both sperm quantity and the spermatophore volume decreased as a male deposited more spermatophores during a single mating. Sperm expenditure was constrained without the costs involved in active spermatogenesis, and depletion of non‐sperm components likely regulate sperm quantity loaded in spermatophores. In dissociated spermatogenesis, constrained sperm expenditure do not mean that costly spermatogenesis is directly limiting male mating capacity but rather suggest that the evolution of physiological mechanisms regulating sperm expenditure per mating maximizes male reproductive success.

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“…Sperm storage in female salamanders has been well studied from the aspects of sperm viability and spermathecal structures (e.g. Sever et al. 1996; Sever 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

When do the Costs of Spermatogenesis Constrain Sperm Expenditure? Remarks on the Pattern of the Spermatogenic Cycle

Takahashi

Parris

2008

Ethology

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“…This interpretation is also consistent with anatomical observations of sperm storage in Notophthalmus and Triturus, close relatives of Taricha. The spermathecae consist of a series of simple glandular tubules, throughout which sperm are visible as scattered, tangled clusters (20,21), which present no apparent barriers to sperm mixing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topping off: A mechanism of first-male sperm precedence in a vertebrate

Jones

Adams

Arnold

2002

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Competition among the sperm of rival males is an important evolutionary phenomenon in many organisms. Yet, despite extensive research on sperm competition in some vertebrate taxa, very little progress has been made on this topic in amphibians. Urodele amphibians (newts and salamanders) are of particular interest to theories of sperm competition because most urodele females-in contrast to other vertebrate females-control the transfer of sperm from the male. Here we present a molecular study of sperm precedence and storage patterns in the rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa). First, we used microsatellite markers to show that female newts typically use sperm from 1-3 males under natural and seminatural conditions. Second, we mated experimental females sequentially to two males and collected fertilized eggs in a temporal series. Patterns of paternity were consistent with first-male sperm precedence and complete mixing of sperm within the female. This simple pattern of sperm usage, best described as ''topping off,'' is consistent with the expectation from sexual conflict theory that free female choice before insemination eliminates selective pressures for the evolution of complex patterns of paternity manipulation involving cryptic female choice.

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“…1989( Brizzi et al . , 1995 from Europe and Notophthalmus viridescens ( Dent 1970;Sever et al . 1996b) from North America.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sperm storage in females of the smooth newt (Triturus v. vulgaris L.): II. Ultrastructure of the spermathecae after the breeding season

Sever¹,

Halliday²,

Moriarty³

et al. 2001

Acta Zoologica

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 Abstract Sever, D. M., Halliday, T. R., Moriarty, E. C. and Arano, B. 2000. Sperm storage in females of the smooth newt ( Triturus v. vulgaris L.): II. Ultrastructure of the spermathecae after the breeding season. -Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 82 : 49-56.Sperm storage in cloacal spermathecae was studied in females of Triturus v. vulgaris from southern England killed at the end of the breeding season in June. This species mates and oviposits eggs in ponds from March to June. Included in the sample were 12 unmated females collected in terrestrial situations in March and mated in the laboratory. Some of these females oviposited viable eggs in the laboratory whereas others did not oviposit after mating. In addition, we examined five females with unknown mating histories that were collected from a breeding pond in June. We found that all of the specimens contained some stored sperm and were similar in spermathecal ultrastructure. The spermathecae exhibited characteristics of secretory epithelium at the end of a cycle, including irregular heterochromatic nuclei surrounded by scant cytoplasm, absence of organelles involved in synthetic activities, few secretory vacuoles, and wide intercellular canaliculi. Spermiophagy by the spermathecal epithelium was extensive. In contrast, spermathecae from females at the beginning of the breeding season as reported in our previous study were actively producing a PAS+ secretion and did not exhibit spermiophagy. Spermiophagy is a means of eliminating sperm prior to the next breeding season.

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Annual cycle of sperm storage in spermathecae of the red-spotted newt,Notophthalmus viridescens (Amphibia: Salamandridae)

Cited by 27 publications

References 32 publications

When do the Costs of Spermatogenesis Constrain Sperm Expenditure? Remarks on the Pattern of the Spermatogenic Cycle

When do the Costs of Spermatogenesis Constrain Sperm Expenditure? Remarks on the Pattern of the Spermatogenic Cycle

Topping off: A mechanism of first-male sperm precedence in a vertebrate

Sperm storage in females of the smooth newt (Triturus v. vulgaris L.): II. Ultrastructure of the spermathecae after the breeding season

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