Malpighian tubules in harvestmen

In arachnids, the Malpighian tubules (MTs), coxal glands and stercoral pockets are capable of collecting and removing excreta from the body. The presence of the MTs among Opiliones was evidenced for the first time in Amilenus aurantiacus in 2015. Individuals undergo a winter diapause subterranean ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Protoplasma 2021-09, Vol.258 (5), p.1145-1153
Main Authors: Lipovšek, Saška, Kozel, Peter, Leitinger, Gerd, Novak, Tone
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Arachnids
Arthropods
Basal lamina
Biology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cell Biology
Diapause
Ecosystem
Epithelial Cells
Epithelium
Humans
Life Sciences
Malpighian Tubules
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Opiliones
Original Article
Overwintering
Plant Sciences
Seasons
Transmission electron microscopy
Ultrastructure
Ureter
Winter
Zoology
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Summary:In arachnids, the Malpighian tubules (MTs), coxal glands and stercoral pockets are capable of collecting and removing excreta from the body. The presence of the MTs among Opiliones was evidenced for the first time in Amilenus aurantiacus in 2015. Individuals undergo a winter diapause subterranean habitats. Here, we provided the morphological and cytological description of the MTs and asked whether their structure and ultrastructure change during the winter diapause. We studied the changes using light and transmission electron microscopy. The MTs consisted of the ureter and a pair of long, lateral blind-ended tubules, forming a long loop in the opisthosoma, and a coiled, terminal ball in the prosoma. The MTs were uniform, composed of a single-cell type, a monolayer of cuboidal epithelial cells, and the basal lamina. The cell ultrastructure was quite comparable to those in other arthropods, except for very long infoldings of the basal membrane protruding close to the nucleus. Except for spherite exploitation, no changes were observed in the ultrastructure of the MT epithelial cells during overwintering. We suggest that the analogous MTs in A. aurantiacus , and the nephron anatomies, along with a single-cell-type MT epithelium, might be of advantage in modelled studies of the nephron.
ISSN:0033-183X
1615-6102
DOI:10.1007/s00709-021-01634-0