AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Pertinent work relating to the value of female genitalia in taxonomy is reviewed. The pterygote ovipositor was described by Snodgrass (1933). It consists of a basal mechanism, a shaft, and usually a pair of accessory lobes. Two pair of bladelike processes constitute the shaft. The processes are the first and second valvulae. A basal mechanism is made up of four lobes or plates the first and second valvifers, which are associated with the eighth and ninth abdominal segments. At the posterior end of the second valvifers are the accessory lobes or third valvulae. The anterior ends of the first and second valvifers give rise to the first and second valvulae. The third valvulae are usually free lobes except in the Orthoptera they form a third pair of blades in the ovipositor shaft. The pterygote ovipositor and adjacent genitalia have taxonomic value in the following orders: Orthoptera, Corrodentia, Homoptera, Heteroptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera. [TRUNCATED]