The structure and morphology of the reproductive system of adult male Loxostege sticticalis L

Author of the article:LIU KeKe1, 2**XIAO YongHong2, 3CHENG YunXia2LUO LiZhi2XU Xiang1

Author's Workplace：1. College of Life Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha410081, China; 2. State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Beijing100193, China; 3. College of Life Sciences, Jinggangshan University, Ji’an343009, China

Key Words：Loxostege sticticalis, male moth, internal reproductive organs, external reproductive organs

Abstract：     Using both light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy we observed the internal reproductive organs, external reproductive organs and other relevant structures of the adult male beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis L. Both the internal and external reproductive organs lie within the abdomen from the 5^th to 10^th segments. The internal organs were located in the abdominal lumen from the 5^th to 8^th segments and consisted of one pair of testes and vas deferens, two pairs of seminal vesicles, the ejaculatory duct, and accessory gland. The external organs were formed by the highly modified 9^th and 10^th segment, and included harpes, tegument, vinculum, uncus, gnathos, aedeagal caecum and phallus. A distinctive character is that the direction of the furcella is different from that of other species. This is the first study to clarify the male reproductive system of this species and it provides more scientific evidence for differentiation between species in the genus Loxostege.