DEVELOPMENT OF FEMALE ACCESSORY-GLANDS OF CHRYSOMYA-PUTORIA (WIEDEMANN) (DIPTERA, CALLIPHORIDAE) DURING OOGENESIS

Females of Chrysomya putoria (Diptera: Calliphoridae) have two sexual accessory glands, which are tubular and more dilated al the distal ext remity. The glands open independently into the common oviduct. Two mor pho-physiological regions were distinguished in the longitudinal semi- thin sections of the glands. The secretory region is constituted by th ree layers: a cuticular intima, lining the lumen, followed by a layer of small cells, and then a layer of very large secretory cells. The du ctal region of the gland presents only two layers: the cuticular intim a and a cellular layer. In both regions a basement membrane is present . Each secretory cell has in its apical region a reservoir, which enla rges throughout oogenesis; in its basal region there is a large nucleu s. The ductal cells are cylindrical and smaller than the secretory cel ls. The glandular secretion is synthesized in the cytoplasm of the sec retory cells, stored and/or modified in the reservoir, then drained to the lumen through an end apparatus seen in the apical region of the s ecretory cell. Histochemical tests indicate that this secretion is a g lycoprotein. Measurements of the glands from females at different phys iological conditions and fed on different diets correlate with the res ults obtained for changes in the ovary during oogenesis. Cell number a veraged 561.2+/-77.54 per gland. There was no increase in cell number during oogenesis. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.