Introduction

Every living things on this unique planet earth multiplied through sexual

or asexual reproduction. Including us, humans and even animals can also

reproduce sexually or asexually. Among all the creatures in the earth, insects

are the most diverse and abundant of all groups of animals despite of their

small sizes and vulnerability as they employ many specialized strategies during

reproduction. They have high reproductive rates and numerous behavioural

and physiological adaptations that assure them a fair fight in the struggle for

survival. (American Journal of Zoological Research, 2016, Vol. 4)

In this laboratory exercise, atypical modes of insect’s reproduction; the

sexual reproduction, and asexual reproduction like parthenogenesis,

Paedogenesis, Neoteny, Hermaphroditism and Polyembryony will be

discussed.

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Sexual reproduction of an insect

In sexual reproduction, two reproductive cells (male and female) organisms

called gametes which contain half the number of chromosomes of normal cells

are created by meiosis and the male gamete fertilizes the female gamete of

the same species to create a fertilized zygote. This produces an offspring whose

genetic make-ups are derived from those of the two parental organisms. In

short, Sexual reproduction of an insect can be called when offsprings come

from combination of the genetic materials of the male and the female. The

sexual reproduction (amphimixis) occurs as the ancestral system in almost all

insect orders.

Based on the study of Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (2005), Sexual

reproduction and differentiation are fundamental aspects of living organisms.

Most insects reproduce sexually. This means that two individuals of opposite

sex (males and females) reproduce together to form new individuals. The

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term ‘sex’ has several meanings in biology. In the ‘genetic’ sense it means

recombination leading to new genetic variation. Recombination of genes can

occur in various ways. In diploid organisms (having two chromosome sets),

gametes are haploid and a new individual is generated by fusion of two

haploid

gametes, each of a different parent. A second mechanism is the random

segregation of chromosomes. Upon the formation of gametes each individual

chromosome has an equal chance to segregate to one of the two division

products. A third mechanism that generates variation is crossing-over, the

exchange of chromosomal regions between chromosomal pairs. One of the

insects that are sexually reproductive are the beetles. All beetles reproduce

sexually. Unlike humans, male beetles after mating leaves and

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will not even gives help to the female to raise the offspring.The female will

later lay the eggs that the male has fertilized, and the new individual begins

its life.

Asexual reproduction

Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction by which offspring arise from

a single organism, and inherit the genes of that parent only; it does not

involve the fusion of gametes, and almost never changes the number of

chromosomes [wikipedea]. There are five several types of asexual

reproduction; first is the Parthenogenesis, second is the Paedogenesis, third

is Neoteny, fourth is Hermaphroditism, and the last one is the Polyembryony.

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Parthenogenesis;

Parthenogenesis is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which

growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization. An

unfertilized egg however will duplicate by mitosis and fuse to form a diploid

cell. Parthenogenesis has three types called thelytokous, arhenotokous, and

amphitokous or deuterokous parthenogenesis.

 Thelytokous parthenogenesis

Hymenoptera (ants, wasps and bees) males are haploid and females are

diploid (White 1973). Often, the switch that determines sex is a single locus,

the complementary sex determiner (csd) (Cook and Crozier 1995; Beye et al.

2003; Heimpel and de Boer 2008). When an individual is heterozygous at

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csd, it develops as a female. Eggs that are hemizygous or homozygous at csd

develop as a male, but homozygotes develop into diploid males, which, in

honeybees, are eaten by workers at the first larval instar (Woyke 1963).

 Arrhenotokous parthenogenesis

Arrhenotokous is a form of parthenogenesis in which unfertilized eggs develop

into males. One best example of this mode is the drones that are born from

unfertilized eggs either laid by queens or by laying worker bees (which can

only lay drones). Because the drones develop from unfertilized eggs they have

only one set of chromosomes (a reproductive process known as arrhenotokous

parthenogenesis) and each drone produces genetically identical sperm. A

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fertilized queen can lay female worker bees which have two sets of

chromosomes (diploid).

 Amphitokous parthenogenesis is a parthenogenesis in which both male and

female offspring are produced.

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Pedogenesis(paedogenesis)

The reproduction by sexually mature larvae, usually without fertilization. The

young may be eggs, such as are produced by Miastor, a genus of gall midge

flies, or other larval forms, as in the case of some

flukes(https://www.britannica.com/science/paedogenesis). This form of

reproduction is distinct from neotenic reproduction in its parthenogenetic

nature (i.e., no fertilization occurs) and the eventual maturation or

metamorphosis of the parent organism into its adult form. Aphids are one of

the pedogenetic insects. With asexual reproduction, female aphids can either

give birth to live clones or lay eggs, all without a male aphid.

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Neoteny

Neoteny is a lifestyle where the adults resemble larvae. It's not abandoning

metamorphosis per se, but neotenic females look like insect larvae. They still

go through the process of metamorphosis, but the final adult has features

which make it resemble a larval insect ( joeballenger2005).

Image credit: Carl D. Barrentine

Neoteny is commonly seen in flightless insects like the females in the order

Strepsiptera. The flightless trait in insects has evolved many separate times;

environments that may have contributed to the separate evolution of this

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trait are: high altitudes, isolation on islands, and insects that reside in colder

climates (wikipedea). These environmental factors may be responsible for the

flightless trait, because in these situations it would be disadvantageous to have

a population that is more dispersed, so flightlessness would be favored due to

the boundaries it poses to dispersal. Also, in cooler temperatures heat is lost

more rapidly through wings, thus the circumstance favors flightlessness.

Another couple of main points to note about insects are that the females in

certain groups become sexually mature without metamorphosing into

adulthood, and some insects which grow up in certain conditions do not ever

develop wings. Just like the working ants illustrated bellow.

Hermaphroditism

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 This reproduction method means that the single insect will reproduce

through its own sexual organs but not actually fertilized. These insects had a

characteristic of having two reproductive organs --both male and female.

One best example of this is the cottony scale insects.

Image courtesy to: Ed Yong | July 15, 2011

Cottony cushion scale insects can reproduce by having sex with themselves,

fertilising their own eggs with their own sperm. And this means that scale

insects can be father, mother, grandfather and grandmother to all of their

grandchildren.

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References:

Biology of Macropanesthia rhinoceros Saussure (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae) by:

Douglas RuggH. A. ROSE

Animal Behaviour, An Evolutionary Approach by: J ANIM ECOL (Feb 1981)

Nalepa CA. Colony composition, protozoan transfer and some life history

characteristics of the woodroach Cryptocercus punctulatus Scudder.

Behavioural Ecology and socio-biology, 1984; 14: 272-279.

G3: GENES, GENOMES, GENETICS October 1, 2018 vol. 8 no. 10 3357-

3366; https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.118.200614

Parental Care (Insects) (n.d.). In what-when-how.com. Retrieved from what-

when-how.com/insects/parental-care-insects/.

Carrick N, Alton K, Bigio G, et al. The hygienic behaviour and varroa control

research. [Internet] 2015 [Accessed 22 December, 2015.] Available from

https://www.m.sussex.ac.uk/lasi/sussexplan/hygienicbees.

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309618380_Reproductive_and_S

urvival_Strategies_Utilized_by_Insect_A_Review

https://sciencing.com/insects-reproduce-asexually-10015868.html

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