Pubertal tuberosity

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The tubercula pubertatis , also puberty tubercle , puberty ridges or puberty walls , are a glandular thickening on or near the clitellum of the crassiclitellata . In earthworms , they are a pair of more or less oval elevations running lengthwise to the body, which are sometimes also divided or as separate papillae on the abdomen on both sides of the clitellum. Usually they extend over fewer segments than the clitellum; in some species of earthworms the pubertal tuberosity can also extend beyond the clitellum. Animals are considered juvenile if neither pubertal tuberosity nor clitellum are present and subadult if the pubertal tuberosity is fully developed but no clitellum is present. In species without a spermathec , the pubertal tuberosity is usually absent. It is believed that epidermal organs such as the pubertal tuberosity, along with the mucus secreted during reproduction, hold the worms together during copulation .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andras Zicsi: The lumbricoids Upper Austria and Austria under the Zugrundlegung. Karl Wesselys collection with special consideration of the Linz area. In: Natural History Yearbook of the City of Linz. Volume 11, 1965, p. 131 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
  2. ↑ Lexicon of Biology: Belt worms. ( Online )
  3. ↑ Celine Pelosi et al. : Earthworm collection from agricultural fields: Comparisons of selected expellants in presence / absence of hand-sorting. S. 177. ( Online )
  4. ↑ A. Velando, J. Eiroa, J. Domínguez: Brainless but not clueless: earthworms boost their ejaculates when they detect fec and non-virgin partners. In: Proceedings. Biological sciences. Volume 275, number 1638, May 2008, pp. 1067-1072, doi: 10.1098 / rspb.2007.1718 , PMID 18252668 , PMC 2600910 (free full text).

literature

  • Clive A. Edwards, PJ Bohlen: Biology and Ecology of Earthworms. Springer, 3rd edition, 1995, ISBN 978-0-412-56160-3 , pp. 6, 7.