Acta Zoologica. 2019;00:1–12. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/azo | 1 © 2019 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
1
|
INTRODUCTION
Megaloptera is currently represented by 35 genera with ap-
proximately 380 extant species (Cover & Resh, 2008; Engel,
Winterton, & Breitkreuz, 2018; Theischinger, 1991) distrib-
uted in two families, Sialidae and Corydalidae. In contrast
to Sialidae, Corydalidae is represented by large insects,
whose corporeal sizes, in general, exceed 25 mm in length.
Most of the species of Megaloptera belong to Corydalidae,
which is divided into Chauliodinae (around 130 species) and
Corydalinae (around 145 species). Corydalinae is the most di-
versified group of Megaloptera also in the Neotropics, where
56 species have been described in the genera Corydalus
Latreille, Chloronia Banks and Platyneuromus van der Weele
Received: 18 March 2019
|
Revised: 24 September 2019
|
Accepted: 25 September 2019
DOI: 10.1111/azo.12312
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Sperm Ultrastructure of corydalid Corydalus diasi Navás
(Megaloptera, Neuropterida, Insecta) with phylogenetic
considerations
Lívia Cuquetto‐Leite
1
|
Aline Barbosa
2
|
Frederico Falcão Salles
3
|
Karina Carvalho Mancini
2
1
Department of Structural and Functional
Biology, Campinas State University
(UNICAMP), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
2
Department of Agrarian and Biological
Sciences, Federal University of Espírito
Santo (UFES), São Mateus, Espírito Santo,
Brazil
3
Department of Entomology, Federal
University of Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, Minas
Gerais, Brazil
Correspondence
Lívia Cuquetto‐Leite, Department of
Structural and Functional Biology, Biology
Institute, 13083‐865, Campinas State
University (UNICAMP), São Paulo, Brazil.
Email: livia.cuquetto@gmail.com
Funding information
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico; Coordenação
de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível
Superior
Abstract
Spermatozoa of the Megaloptera Corydalus diasi (Corydalidae) showed a two‐
layered acrosome, similar to Raphidioptera, but different from the acrosomal ar-
rangement in Ascalaphidae, Coniopterygidae and Myrmeleontidae (Neuroptera
families) and Sialidae (Megaloptera). Also, the acrosomal shape differs from both
Raphidioptera and Neuroptera examined so far. The nucleus is cylindrical with con-
densed chromatin, resembling the sperm of Sialidae, Raphidioptera and Neuroptera.
The transition region of C. diasi does not have the nucleus surrounded by centri-
olar microtubules, and thus, it differs from Sialidae, whose character has been pre-
viously considered a synapomorphy between Megaloptera and Raphidioptera. The
flagella analysed here possess a 9 + 9 + 2 axoneme arrangement, two elongated
circular mitochondrial derivatives and triangular accessory bodies, which are also re-
ported in Raphidioptera. In summary, there are numerous sperm differences between
Corydalidae and Sialidae, besides several characters shared between Corydalidae and
Raphidioptera. However, several of these similarities appear to be plesiomorphisms
rather than synapomorphies. Additionally, this is the first spermatic description for
Corydalidae and the second for Megaloptera order. Therefore, considering the num-
ber of genres that comprise this family and the lack of spermiocladistics studies for
Corydalidae, we recommended that new studies on the field should be performed to
better understand the sperm pattern within the Corydalidae genus.
KEYWORDS
Corydalidae, morphology, phylogeny, spermatozoa