Sperm Production and Transfer by Heliothis virescens1, H. subflexa, 1 and the Sterile Hybrid Males3,4

Abstract

Sterile hybrids from interspecific crosses between Heliothis virescens (F.) and H. subflexa (Gueneé) produced as many sperm bundles in their testes as did the parent species. Also, the ratio of eupyrene to apyrene sperm bundles was simliar for the 4 types of males. A main function of the spermatophores was to eject the sperm from the collum into the seminal duct of the female. Although spermatophores from hybrid males contained as many eupyrene sperm bundles as the spermatophores from males of either species, these bundles did not completely break down within the spermatophore. Rather, they formed a plug of eupyrene sperm in the corpus of the spermatophore at the opening of the collum. Thus, when females had mated with hybrid males, the apyrene sperm in the collum were the only ones ejected and the only type that reached the spermatheca.