Representatives of the highly specialized earwig family Hemimeridae are epizoic and viviparous. Their embryos develop inside terminal ovarian follicles (termed also embryonic follicles) and rely solely on nutrients transferred from mother tissues. In this report, we present results of ultrastructural and histochemical studies of the initial stage of Hemimerus talpoides development. Our results show that the follicular cells surrounding fully grown oocyte of Hemimerus do not degenerate after initiation of embryogenesis, but transform and gradually form the wall of the incubation chamber in which the embryo develops. We also show that amniotic cells of the early embryo remain in direct contact with transformed follicular cells. In the region of contact, short outgrowths of the amniotic cells associate with irregular surface specializations of the transformed follicular cells. We suggest that extended “postfertilization” activity of hemimerid follicular cells represents an adaptation to viviparity and matrotrophy in this insect lineage.

中文翻译：

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胎生耳螟胚胎发生初期卵巢滤泡上皮的形态发生，Hemimerus talpoides

高度专业化的耳螟科Hemimeridae的代表是胎生的和胎生的。它们的胚胎在终末卵泡（也称为胚胎卵泡）内发育，并且完全依赖于从母体组织转移的营养。在本报告中，我们介绍了 Hemimerus talpoides 发育初始阶段的超微结构和组织化学研究结果。我们的研究结果表明，Hemimerus 成熟卵母细胞周围的滤泡细胞在胚胎发生开始后不会退化，而是转化并逐渐形成胚胎发育的孵化室壁。我们还表明早期胚胎的羊膜细胞与转化的滤泡细胞保持直接接触。在接触区域，羊膜细胞的短生长与转化的滤泡细胞的不规则表面特化有关。我们认为，半聚体卵泡细胞延长的“受精后”活性代表了这种昆虫谱系对胎生和母体营养的适应。