Studies on the functional morphology of Odontopus nigricornis Stål (Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae)

Summary

The male internal organs of reproduction in Odontopus nigricornis are similar to those of other Heteroptera described earlier except that this species has a very peculiarly developed unpaired ectadene gland and that the paired mesadene glands are multi-lobed. The mesadene glands secrete two types of secretion. The outer wall of the antero-dorsal lobe of the tri-lobed ectadene gland exhibits hypersecretory activity and the secretion is different from that of the rest of the gland. The strong circular muscles of the median dorsal groove of the bulbus ejaculatorius exercise a significant role in sucking the sperm bundles from the common ducts of vesiculum seminis and mesadene gland of each side into the bulbus, dissociating them and mixing them with the ectadene secretion and pumping the spermatozoa out through the ductus ejaculatorius.