Sistema reprodutor masculino de Clibanarius sclopetarius (Herbst, 1796) e C. Symmetricus (Randall, 1840) (Decapoda, Anomura, Diogenidae) e inferências em sua biologia reprodutiva.

Abstract

Descriptions of the complete male reproductive system of textit Clibanarius sclopetarius and textit Clibanarius symmetricus and inferences on its reproductive biology have been made. Animals were collected by hand in the estuary of the Jaguaribe River. External and internal aspects of the male reproductive system morphology were analyzed macroscopically and on light microscopy. The reproductive system consists of a pair of testicles and vas deferens. The testicles are lobular and without commissure between them. Macroscopically the vas deferens are divided into a short, thin, coiled proximal region, a thicker and coiled median region, and short, thick and straight distal region. The gonopores are circular openings with short and simple setae. There are no specialized structures or appendices in sperm transfer. Microscopically, the testicles present several lobes joined by a fibrous cortex and present a transformation zone containing germ cells and a collecting duct where sperm are deposited. The vas deferens are also divided into three regions, proximal, which secretes the spermatophore wall and seminal secretions, median, molds the spermatophores and secretes glyphrotic material that surrounds them and distal stores the spermatophores and secretes seminal materials. Spermatophores consist of ampulaes and lateral projections, without peduncle and pedestal. The morphology of the testicles resembles that of other crustaceans. The process of spermatophore formation occurs differently from that observed in other hermit crabs. The morphology of spermatophores differs from that observed in most of the Diogenidae family. The morphology of the spermatophore and gonopores, as well as the types of materials secreted by the vas deferens allow to infer that the copula of these animals occur by the deposition of the spermatoform mass in the cephalothorax of the females, with external fertilization.