A new type of composite eggs was found in the non-paedogenetic gall midges
Mikiola fagi and
Rhabdophaga rosaria. Composite eggs of this type contained two or three nurse chambers and one egg chamber with one oocyte nucleus. In all composite eggs examined only one nurse chamber developed normally, while the others, regardless of their number and position within a composite egg, were arrested in their growth. It is assumed that the arrested nurse chambers, contrary to normally developing ones, are deficient in generative nuclei and thus are derived exclusively from mesodermal cells.
Key words Composite eggs - Polytrophic ovary - Cecidomyiid oogenesis
This work was supported in part under Contract DPKBN/52/76-II.1.3.10, with the Polish Academy of Sciences