Find in Library

Ultrastructural characters of spermiogenesis and the mature spermatozoon of the cestode <i>Meggittina gerbilli</i> (Cyclophyllidea: Catenotaeniidae), a parasite of the Lesser Egyptian gerbil (<i>Gerbillus gerbillus</i>) and the North African gerbil (<i>Gerbillus campestris</i>) (Rodentia: Muridae) in the Djebel Dahar (South of Tunisia), were studied using transmission electron microscopy. The spermiogenesis of <i>M. gerbilli</i> is of Bâ and Marchand’s type III, which is mainly characterized by a proximodistal fusion of a single flagellum with a cytoplasmic extension. In this catenotaeniid, the proximal fusion is preceded by a 90° rotation of the flagellum. The spermatozoon is a Levron et al. type VI, which presents a single axoneme with the 9 + ‘1’ trepaxonematan pattern, a periaxonemal sheath, two crest-like bodies, twisted cortical microtubules, and a spiraled nucleus. The obtained results show similarities with the remaining studied catenotaeniids, namely <i>Catenotaenia pusilla</i> and <i>Skrjabinotaenia lobata</i>. The results are compared and discussed according to several characteristics found in the catenotaeniids and other studied cyclophyllideans.