Drosophila bifurca
| Drosophila bifurca | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Drosophilidae |
| Subfamily: | Drosophilinae |
| Genus: | Drosophila |
| Species group: | repleta group |
| Species subgroup: | hydei subgroup |
| Species complex: | bifurca complex |
| Species: | D. bifurca |
| Binomial name | |
| Drosophila bifurca | |
Drosophila bifurca is a species of fruit fly. Males of this species are known to have the longest sperm cells of any organism on Earth, an astonishing 5.8 cm long when uncoiled.[1] The cells are mostly tail, and are delivered to the females in tangled coils. In a male's entire life he can only make a few hundred such cells. The other members of the genus Drosophila also make very few, giant sperm cells, with D. bifurca's being the longest.
References
- ↑ Pitnick, S.; Spicer, G.S.; Markow, T.A. (1995). "How long is a giant sperm?". Nature 375 (6527): 109. doi:10.1038/375109a0. PMID 7753164.
External links
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, October 06, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.