Reproductive Biology of the Male Sheath-Tailed Bat,Taphozous longimanus(Emballonuridae) From India

The seasonal chronological events of the repreductive cycle in the male sheath-tailed bat T. longimanus and changes in structure and function of accessory sex organs were studied at Varanasi (latitude: 25° N, 83°E). The first peak of spermatogenesis was ob served in September with the appearance of spermatozoa. The spermatogenic arrest in win ter dormancy (December) was followed by a second peak of spermatogenesis in January.This perbo coincides with ovulation in females. The third peak of spermatogenesis started after regression in late April, and completely regressed tubules were found after May. The cycle of accessory sex gland complex generally paralleled the testicular cycle, reaching maxi mum hypertrophy from September to January and again in late April. Thereafter, the ac cesory sex glands involuated. Spermatozoa were present in the cauda epididymidis through out the year. The reproductive cycle in family Emballonuridae varies with changes in lati tude, and this was so even in members of the same species. The presence of spermatozoa in the cauda epididymidis throughout the year is an interesting feature in the reproductive cy cle. Temperature and photoperiod do not play a regulatory role in reproduction in T.longimanus

Zika virus damages the male reproductive system and leads to infertility in mice

Subject Code:H07 With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,a collaborative study by the research groups led by Prof.Gao Fu(高福)from the Institute of Microbiology,Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof.Li Xiangdong(李向东)from China Agricultural University demonstrates that Zika virus infection causes testis damage and leads to male infertility in mice,which was published in

Seed and Wasp Production in the Mutualism of Figs and Fig Wasps

Figs (Moracea: Ficus) and fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Chlocloids: Agaonideae) depend on each other to complete their reproduction. Monoecious fig species and their pollinating wasps are in conflict over the use of fig ovaries which can either produce one seed or one wasp. From observation on Ficus virens Ait., we showed that female flowers with outer layer of ovaries (near to the wall of syconium) had no significant difference from that with inner and interval layer of ovaries (near to the syconium cavity), in which most seeds and wasps were produced. This meant that fig tree provided the same potential resource for seed and wasps production. Observation indicated that there was usually only one foundress in syconium at female flower phase and no com- petition pollinators. Measurement of the style length of female flowers and the ovipositor of pollinators indicated that most ovaries could be reached by pollinator’s ovipositor. However, at the male flower phase, production of seeds was significantly more than that of wasps including non-pollinating wasps but there was no significant difference between seed and pollinating wasp production when without non-pollinating wasps produced. This result indicated that non-pollinating wasps competed ovaries not with seeds but with pollinating wasps for ovipositing. Bagged experiment showed that the sampling fig species was not self-sterile which was important for figs and wasps to survive bad season. Seed production in self-pollinated figs was not significantly different from total wasps in- cluding non-pollinating ones. This might be related with the weaker competition among wasps since bagged figs were not easy to reach by wasps from outside.

Acknowledgements （Continued）

The Male Pill* traces the kaleidoscopic history Ofhormonal methods of contraception for men,exploringwhy such methods have been so long in coming whenthose for women have been available for nearly 40 years.The common features of pituitary endocrine control,whereby gonadotropin withdrawal switches off the func-tion of both zonads, could surely have led to the parallel