BREED, W. G., 1995. - Variation in sperm head morphology of muroid rodents of Africa: phylogenetic implications. In: JAMIESON, B. G. M., AUSIO, J., & JUSTINE, J.-L. (eds), Advances in Spermatozoal Phylogeny and Taxonomy. Mém. Mus. natn. Hist. nat., 166 : 409-420. Paris ISBN : 2-85653-225-X.

Sperm morphology from individuals of the following subfamilies of muroid rodents of southern Africa is determined: Cricetomyinae (Saccostomus), Gerbillinae (Gerbillurus and Tatera), Dendromurinae (Dendromus, Malacothrix, Prionomys, Steatomys, and Deomys), and Otomyinae (Otomys); Mystromys (subfamily Mystromyinae) is used as an outgroup. The sperm head of most species including that of Mystromys is falciform in shape but differences in internal organisation occur. In Mystromys it is long and thin and there is a very large apical acrosomal segment. The falciform sperm heads of Saccostomus and Malacothrix are broader basally but have a similar organisation apically, whereas in Deomys the sperm head is very small, bilaterally flattened, with no apical hook. Gerbillurus sperm head terminates in a sharp pointed apex, whereas in Tatera it is round apically and a deep invagination occurs in the caudal nuclear region. In Otomys the sperm head is falciform and the organisation of the perforatorium and acrosome is similar to that of most murine rodents apart from Acomys and Uranomys. This study suggests that a falciform sperm type is probably the ancestral condition for the dendromurine-cricetomyine-otomyine-murine clade. Sperm of both Deomys and Tatera are highly divergent, and those of the otomyines and murines are very different from sperm of species in other subfamilies; since a very similar or identical morphology occurs in most species of the Otomyinae and Murinae it suggests that these two subfamilies are sister groups to the exclusion of the other subfamilies and of Acomys and Uranomys.

Back