Sperm characteristics in the digenean Diplodiscus amphichrus (Paramphistomoidea, Diplodiscidae), a parasite of the Chinese edible frog Hoplobatrachus rugulosus

Abstract

The ultrastructural characteristics of the mature spermatozoon of Diplodiscus amphichrus (Digenea, Paramphistomoidea, Diplodiscidae) and their ultrastructural organisation were examined by means of transmission electron microscopy. Live digeneans were collected from the Chinese edible frog Hoplobatrachus rugulosus in Thailand. The male gamete of D. amphichrus is a fliform cell with two axonemes of the 9+'1' trepaxonematan pattern, nucleus, one mitochondrion, parallel cortical microtubules, a well-developed lateral expansion, external ornamentation of the plasma membrane, spine-like bodies, and granules of glycogen. These ultrastructural characteristics have already been described in other paramphistomoids studied so far except for the cladorchiids, which present some diferences. Two characteristics of the male gamete of D. amphichrus were found for the frst time in a digenean: (i) the appearance of the initial part of the lateral expansion before the axonemes in the anterior extremity and (ii) the separation between the second axoneme and the nucleus in the posterior tip. Our results are compared with the available data in the Digenea and particularly with other paramphistomoids.