Ootheca

As ootheca (pl. oothecae; . AltGr ὠόν oon "egg" and gr θήκη counter " place to store " ) refers to the Eipaket in which cockroaches ( Blattodea ) and Mantis ( Mantodea ) lay their eggs. Some taxonomists group both orders therefore in the taxon Oothecaria or Oothecariformia together (See also Nomenclature of gladiators ). Oothecae are compact, solid and species-specific shaped cocoon in which the eggs are inseparably glued together and the like scrims are stored in one place.

Function

Oothecae serve to protect the eggs from mechanical, but also chemical and other environmental factors, such as predators and the weather. In moist habitats a smooth surface prevents wetting, in dry regions the surface is porous. The chambered walls insulate against cold and heat. The oothecae the cockroaches are especially resistant to alkalis, acids and other chemicals.

Oothecae of cockroaches

In many scraping the cocoons are either shortly after the ootheca is fully cured or saved some time later. Certain types hide the oothecae, while others just let them fall. Depending on the type 15-40 eggs are placed in a package. To produce the female of Commons cockroach ( Blatta orientalis) about 12 mm long, dark brown, smooth-walled egg capsules, with a seam, in which she lays 16 eggs each, she wears almost two days on the body. Some species such as the Argentine cockroach ( Blaptica dubia ), the Totenkopfschabe ( Blaberus craniifer ) and Madagascar Fauchschabe ( Gromphadorrhina portentosa ) wear these throughout the period until hatching of the nymphs in a specially designed genital pouch of females around what is already a form the Ovoviviparie is.

Oothecae the Mantis

In contrast to the free oothecae of cockroaches the mantis stick firmly their rounded, elongated, shield-shaped, teardrop-shaped, or packet -like oothecae on different substrates. To this end, they first take on a high protein secretion to the substrate. Under spiraling movements of the abdomen this frothy secretion is released now even more, now the eggs are sequentially stored thereinto so that they are to each other in a certain order and each occupying a compartment of the ootheca. At the end of the secretion is drawn in a more or less long thread before it hardens into a spongy, very tight cocoon. Along the surface is the thinnest region from which the nymphs hatch. He is usually seen as large pores, seam - or comb-like strips. The number of eggs in the oothecae varies depending on the type and cocoon size between 15 and 400, since the females settle depending on the type five to well over 20 oothecae, can easily over 1000 eggs are laid.

Oothecae the millipede

Various species of millipedes ( Diplopoda ) are able to wrap the eggs of a ply with different substrates. The resulting structures are also called oothecae. To set the Schnurfüßer ( Julida ) and the Bandfüßer ( Polydesmida ) several dozen to several hundred eggs in small burrows from whose walls are hardened by a secretion. Samenfüßer ( Chordeumatidae ) spin their eggs into a cocoon.

Swell

  • Entomology
  • Developmental Biology
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