Desarrollo Postembrionario de Una Poblacion de Radopholus similis de Puerto Rico

Abstract

The postembryonic development of Radopholus similis comprises four juvenile stages and the adult. The first molt occurs within the egg. The other three juvenile stages outside the egg can be recognized by the degree of development of the reproductive system. This system is developed from a genital primordium which can be observed in the first stage juvenile. Nuclear divisions within the primordium begin in the first molt and continue thereafter during the remaining molts and to a lesser degree within the juvenile stages. These divisions produce certain numbers of nuclei which are characteristic of each juvenile stage and can be used to identify them. At the end of the fourth molt the female and male have their reproductive systems completely formed. In the female this is of the didelphic-amphidelphic type and in the male of the monorquid type. Sex can be recognized in the second juvenile stage by the presence of four specialized ventral chord nuclei, opposite the genital primordium,