Centrioles in the Spermatids of Insects1

Abstract

The University of Texas at Austin There have been many statements published regarding the number of centrioles in the spermatids of insects. Some earlier workers reported the occurrence of 2 centrioles in several groups of insects, although only one was seen in the spermatids of some species (summarized in Wilson 1928). More recent workers have reported similar results, although in some publications the investigators were apparently not specifically interested in the number of centrioles present. For example, Bertaud and Gatenby (1960) state that in a cricket, Pachyrhamma fasciferum (Walker), 2 apparently true centrioles are present. Mathur (1960) reported 2 centrioles in 1 grasshopper, Stenobothrus viridula (=Omocestus viridulus (L.), but he found no evidence for 2 in the normal spermatids of another species, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal). Only 1 centriole is discussed in a recent paper by Phillips (1966), which considers spermiogenesis in the fungus gnat, Sciara coprophila Lintner.