著者

村上,好央

出版者

東京動物學會

雑誌

動物学雑誌

巻号頁・発行日

vol.68, no.5, 1959-05-15

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Several reports concerning the tergite of Scutigeridae have already been published since the old study of Latzel (1880). This paper gives a new aspect on the tergite. The materials used for the observation are the two following species, Thereuonema hilgendorfi Verhoeff and Thereuopoda ferox Verh. The results obtained are as follows: 1.Scutigeridae has a small covered tergite between any comsecutive two of eight main tergites. If these seven small tergites are regarded to be the modification of the main tergites, the tergites of the family are fifteen in number and this number coincides with that of the pairs of legs. (see Figs. 1-4) 2.The earlier workers except Verhoeff made a common error which denied the presence of a small covered tergite between the seventh and the eighth main tergite because of seeing Scutigefidae in a relation to Lithobiidae. Attems ('30) has mistaken a pretergite as a small covered tergite. 3.The anamorphic development of leg-bearing segments is summarized in the Table 1. So far as the present writer has observed, there is found no foundation of Verhoeff's theory that the main tergite of Scutigeridae is a diplotergite. It is considered that the eight main tergites belong to the odd leg-bearing segments, and that each of the even segments has a small covered tergite. These small tergites appear at the epimorphic development period. 4.In the Table 1, doubly marked tergites have the following characteristic: each of them is a normally complished tergite at the earlier stage of the stadium, but at the later stage it turns into a cuticula by partial moulting which occurs before the change of larval stadia. This is thought to be an organic phenomenon for the formation of the two new pairs of legs in the embryonic somite. As compared with each other between Verhoeff's Table and the present writer's, it is likely that the former has considered this characteristic process as a change of teloptergite into diplotergite. 5.The "Telotergite" called by Verhoeff means the embryonic tergite at the first and the second larval stadium and also means the complished tergite, which turns into cuticula as mentioned above, at the other stadia. Thus, it must be said that he put heterogenous tergites in the same category.