Notes on the female reproductive system of the red-and-black froghopper, Cercopis vulnerata Rossi, 1807 (Hemiptera: Cercopidae)-light and electron microscopy studies

The morphology of the female reproductive system in Cercopis vulnerata, an economically important species, was examined with light and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The female reproductive system of C. vulnerata has two ovaries, each containing 14 telotrophic meroistic ovarioles joined by two lateral oviducts that open in a common oviduct. In this type of ovarioles, the trophocytes within the germarium are transferred to the developing oocytes in the vitellarium via the nutritive cords. The oocytes in the vitellarium have three different development stages: previtello, vitello and choriogenesis. The ovarioles open in the lateral oviduct with a thin canal-shaped pedicel. A pair of lateral oviducts opens distally into the common oviduct. The oviducts are surrounded by a monolayer cubical epithelium with deep folds toward the lumen and a thick muscle layer. A pair of spermatheca and a bursa copulatrix are seen near the common oviduct. Spermatheca has an elongated shape. The bursa copulatrix has an ovoid tube-like structure. No work has been done on the female reproductive system of Cercopidae to date. This study was conducted to fill this gap and forms part of the female reproductive system morphology of this economically important insect.