Figure 4

Wasp spermatogenesis produces bundles with highly variable spermatid numbers. (A) Cystocyte volume averages across three different pupal stages. Dark black lines represent means for a given cyst. Red lines represent means for all cyst means within each pupal stage. Boxes depict the interquartile range for each each cyst mean, and the whiskers are 1.5 times the interquartile range. (B) Left, a cyst of germ cells taken from a testis of an early yellow-red male pupa. Right, a cyst of germ cells taken from a testis of a late yellow-red male pupa. Scale bar is 2 μm and applies to both panels. (C) Left, a cross section taken from the posterior end of a testis from a yellow-black male pupa depicting three spermatid bundles, each containing a different number of spermatids. Inset is a high magnification of the sperm tails showing cross sections of the mitochondrial derivatives and axonemes for a cluster of spermatids. Right, a graph showing the number of spermatids per bundle scored for D. melanogaster testes and N. vitripennis testes. Scale bar in (B) is 2 μm (also applies to (A)).