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The control of receptivity and ovulation in the tsetse fly, Glossina morsitans
Author(s) -
GILLOTT C.,
LANGLEY P. A.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1981.tb00271.x
Subject(s) - biology , receptivity , uterus , ovulation , glossina morsitans , stimulus (psychology) , hemolymph , physiology , stimulation , endocrinology , distension , spermatophore , medicine , anatomy , andrology , mating , zoology , hormone , ecology , psychology , psychotherapist
. A rapid decline in receptivity of mated female Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood is shown to depend on both physical and chemical stimuli associated with copulation. Radiolabelling revealed the transfer of substances from the male to the haemolymph of the female during copulation. Implantation of male tissues or their injection as homogenates into virgin females showed the chemical stimulus to come from the male accessory glands. Receptivity decreased in females mated to males with ejaculatory ducts severed or testes removed and also in females which had a glass bead inserted into their uterus and/or the tip of their abdomen covered with wax, suggesting that a physical stimulus inducing refractoriness is provided by distension of the uterus and/or stimulation of their terminalial setae. Exposing virgin females to daily short matings in which no male materials were transferred, confirmed this. Receptivity also declined slowly with age in unexposed virgin females. Transfusion of haemolymph from mated females (up to 11 days old) into virgins did not indicate the existence of a haemolymph‐borne ovulation‐inducing factor; apparently only physical stimuli from mating are involved in the induction of ovulation, and somehow prime the ovarian tissue so that it responds appropriately later when the egg has matured. Whether the stimulus is transmitted to the ovary neurally or hormonally is unknown.