Volume 281, Issue 11 p. 1411-1435
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Structure, development, and evolutive patterns of spermatozoa in rhabditid nematodes (Nematoda: Rhabditida)

Dieter Slos

Corresponding Author

Dieter Slos

Nematology Research Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Correspondence

Dieter Slos, ILVO-Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Plant Sciences Unit, Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 96, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.

Email: dieter.slos@ilvo.vlaanderen.be

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Vladimir V. Yushin

Vladimir V. Yushin

A.V. Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia

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Myriam Claeys

Myriam Claeys

Nematology Research Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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Elena S. Ivanova

Elena S. Ivanova

A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

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Hajime Kosaka

Hajime Kosaka

Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan

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Wim Bert

Wim Bert

Nematology Research Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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First published: 26 August 2020
Citations: 3

Dieter Slos and Vladimir V. Yushin contributed equally to this work.

Funding information: Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Grant/Award Number: FWOKAN2013001201; Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Grant/Award Numbers: 17-04-00719-a, 20-04-00569; Russian Science Foundation for the Far Eastern Federal University, Grant/Award Number: 14-50-00034; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Grant/Award Numbers: 17H03831, 22380091

Abstract

Spermatogenesis of five rhabditid nematodes was studied using transmission electron microscopy and is described herein. Structure and development of nematode sperm in all available representatives of the extensive order Rhabditida have been analysed and the main characteristics of each infraorder are discussed. The ancestral sperm of the order Rhabditida was reconstructed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods based on 44 ultrastructural sperm characters. The hypothetical ancestral spermatogenesis of the order Rhabditida agrees with the previously suggested “rhabditid” pattern and appears to be conserved throughout the order Rhabditida. Despite the enormous variation of rhabditid nematodes, few groups deviate from the ancestral pattern. This conserved pattern can be informative within the phylum Nematoda at order level, but poses limitations when used in taxonomic and phylogenetic analysis within Rhabditida.

PEER REVIEW

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1002/jmor.21255.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the supplementary material of this article.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.