SEASONAL VARIATIONS OF SPERMATOGENESIS AND OF THE SEXUAL SEGMENT OF THE KIDNEY IN THE CARPET PYTHON, MORELIA SPILOTA IMBRICATA (SERPENTESBOIDAE)

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract: Testes, vasa deferentla and kidneys of museum specimens of Morelia spilota imbricata from south-western Australia have been histologieally studies. Morelia spilota imbricata shows a prenuptial spermatogenetic pattern. During summer the germial epithelium is quiescent: multiplication of spermatogonia begins in late summer autumn, spermatocytogenesis and spermiogenesis progress quickly, the culmination phase of spermiogenesis and spermiation occuring in November. Only during this time of the year is the sexual segment of the kidney hypertrophied: during summer, autumn and winter it is completcly regressed, corresponding to the period of sexual quiescence. The male reproductive cycle of the Carpet Python in south-western Australia corresponds to patterns lound in some sn kes of other families in the temperate and subtropical zone.