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JØRGEN LÜTZEN¹, MAKOTO KATO², TAKEHARU KOSUGE³, DIARMAID Ó FOIGHIL^4
1Biological Institute, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen - Denmark. 
Email jlutzen@bi.ku.dk
²Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
³Ishigaki Tropical Station, Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute, Ishigaki, Okinawa 907-0451, Japan
⁴Museum of Zoology, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 49109-1079, USA

Abstract

Spermatophores consisting of a mass of mature sperm encapsulated within a solid, inflexible wall are described from five species of the genera Anisodevonia, Entovalva and Devonia, and obviously also occur in Cycladoconcha. The spermatophores are attached to the gill lamellae in the suprabranchial chamber in which these species brood the eggs. The ultrastructure of the monomorphic sperm of Anisodevonia ohshimai shows many similarities to the euspermatozoa of species of Pseudopythina and Barrimysia (families Kellidae and Montacutidae). Entovalva sp. A and sp. B Jenner and McCrary, 1967 are not related to any of the four studied genera.

Key words: Anisodevonia, Cycladoconcha, Devonia, Entovalva, hermaphroditism, sperm ultrastructure

Full article (PDF; 920 KB)