A synopsis of the numbers of testicular follicles and ovarioles in true bugs (Heteroptera, Hemiptera) – sixty-five years of progress after J. Pendergrast’s review

Abstract

The structure of testes and ovaries can be described in its simplest form by the number of follicles and ovarioles they contain. Sixty-five years after the last review of the internal reproductive systems in true bugs (Heteroptera), the data accumulated today on the number of testicular follicles and ovarioles in their gonads are summarized. In addition, data on the number and type (mesadenia/ectadenia) of accessory glands are given. The hemipteran suborder Heteroptera constitutes one of the most diverse groups of non-homometabolous (‘Hemimetabola’) insects, comprising more than 40,000 described species worldwide and approximately 100 families, classified into seven infraorders. Data are available for all infraorders; however, more than 90% of studied species belong to the largest and most evolutionarily derived infraorders Cimicomorpha and Pentatomomorpha. In true bugs, in general, the number of follicles varies from one to nine (in a testis), and the number of ovarioles varies from two to 24 (in an ovary). Seven follicles per testis and seven ovarioles per ovary prevail being found in approximately 43.5% (307 species) and 24.4% (367 species) of studied species, respectively. Such a structure of testes and ovaries is considered an ancestral character state in the Heteroptera. In the evolution of this group, the number of follicles and ovarioles both increased and decreased, but the trend towards a decrease clearly prevailed.