Ultrastructural study of spermiogenesis and the spermatozoon in Catenotaenia pusilla, an intestinal parasite of Mus musculus

The ultrastructure of spermiogenesis and the mature spermatozoon in Catenotaenia pusilla (Cestoda: Catenotaeniidae) is described. Spermiogenesis is characterized by the presence of a single axoneme which grows on the outside of a cytoplasmic extension at an angle of 45 degrees. Flagellar rotation and proximodistal fusion are produced in this process. The centrioles lack striated roots and an intercentriolar body. In the mature spermatozoon four different regions are described. The anterior extremity is capped by an apical cone and presents two helical crest-like bodies of unequal length. The axoneme, of the 9 + '1' pattern of the Trepaxonemata, presents a periaxonemal sheath. The cortical microtubules form a spiral pattern at an angle of about 40 degrees to the hypothetical spermatozoon axis. The nucleus is kidney- to horseshoe-shaped in cross section. Granules and proteinaceus walls are not observed in the spermatozoon of C. pusilla.