Territoriality and fighting in a colonial thrips, Hoplothrips pedicularius, and sexual dimorphism in Thysanoptera

ABSTRACT.

• 1 Hoplothrips pedicularius (Haliday) (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), a tubuliferan thrips in which males possess greatly enlarged forelegs, lives in colonies on Stereum fungus.
• 2 Females oviposit onto communal egg masses, and males fight by grasping and stabbing with their forelegs in territorial defence of oviposition areas. Prolonged escalated fights occur between males who are of similar size.
• 3 Larger males usually win fights and become dominant at the oviposition area. Dominant males secure 80% of matings, and mate most frequently during oviposition periods, with an ovipositing female.
• 4 Smaller, subordinate males avoid fights and attempt to 'sneak’copulations. However, they occasionally challenge the dominant male. Challenges tend to follow copulations by the subordinate male and occur more frequently between males who are of similar size.
• 5 Subordinate males who eventually leave the oviposition area are larger than those who remain, have frequently challenged the dominant male, and have more frequently been stabbed.
• 6 Sexual dimorphism in thrips is associated with gregariousness, claustral habitats, female-biased sex ratios, and male winglessness. In thrips genera in which males exhibit foreleg armature, males are larger relative to females. The ecological circumstances promoting sexual dimorphism and male fighting in spatially-structured populations are discussed.

     

Heterochronic differentiation of sexual dimorphs among Jurassic ammonite species

Ontogenetic and then heterochronic approaches are used here to analyze sexual differentiation within two well-known Jurassic dimorphic species. This analysis compares two ways of determining the relative biological age of ammonites, one using size (diameter) and the other the number of septa as a proxy of age. The shape standard is established from factor analysis of morphological and growth parameters. Size-age-shape relationships are analyzed on the basis of a new heterochronic representation. When diameter is used as a proxy of age, microconch morphs are globally considered to be progenetic compared with macroconch morphs. When size and age are determined separately and shape is included, (1) Ebrayiceras jactatum (microconch morph) has a shorter period of growth (progenesis) with acceleration of shape compared with its macroconch morph ( Morphoceras macrescens ), (2)( Cardioceras cordatum (microconch morph) has a shorter period of growth (progenesis) coupled with a slower rhythm of growth (dwarfism) compared with its macroconch morph. These findings emphasize the complex relationship between supposed sexual dimorphs in ammonites when size and age standards can be separated, as well as the need for an ontogenetic approach.     

Regeneration of Vitamin A Deficient Rat Tracheal Epithelium After Mild Mechanical Injury

Mild mechanical abrasion of tracheal epithelium of Vitamin A deficient rats removed the superficial cells and spared basal cells which divided to repopulate the damaged area. The proliferative cells passed through a period of DNA synthesis with the greatest numbers of thymidine incorporating cells in samples labelled 22 h after injury. A peak of cell division occurred at 32 h and there was no further DNA synthesis or cell division. The area of wounding exhibited squamous metaplasia while normal pseudostratified muco-ciliary structure was retained by adjacent epithelium which had not been injured. The data indicates that squamous metaplasia in the respiratory epithelium in longstanding Vitamin A deficiency is due to redirected differentiation of basal cells and is seen only after mitotic activity has occurred.