Sever David M, Sparreboom Max, Schultschik Guenther
Department of Biology, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556.
2597 SC Den Haag, The Netherlands.
J Morphol. 1997 Apr;232(1):93-105. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4687(199704)232:1<93::AID-JMOR6>3.0.CO;2-P.
Males of the two species of Mertensiella (M. caucasica and M. luschani) possess a tubercle projecting from the skin of the dorsal tail base, the single morphological character that defines the genus. The dorsal tail tubercle functions during courtship, and its role is similar in both species. The tubercle is inserted into the cloaca of the female during ventral amplexus, shortly before the male deposits a spermatophore. Histological examination, however, revealed that the dorsal tubercles differ structurally between the two species. In M. caucasica, the tubercle consists primarily of elongate mucous glands, with granular glands occurring only at the base. Both mucous and granular glands of the tubercle are larger than those in typical skin. Unlike typical skin, however, mucous glands are larger than granular glands. In M. luschani, mucous glands and granular glands occur throughout the tubercle, and the granular glands are larger than the mucous glands, although both types are larger than those in typical skin. The dorsal tubercles of M. caucasica and M. luschani may not be homologous structures and may have resulted from convergent evolution. J Morphol 232:93-105, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
两种梅氏螈（高加索梅氏螈和卢氏梅氏螈）的雄性在尾基部背侧皮肤处有一个突出的瘤，这是界定该属的唯一形态特征。背侧尾瘤在求偶过程中发挥作用，且在两个物种中的作用相似。在腹面抱对时，就在雄性排出精包前不久，瘤会插入雌性的泄殖腔。然而，组织学检查显示，两个物种的背侧瘤在结构上有所不同。在高加索梅氏螈中，瘤主要由细长的黏液腺组成，颗粒腺仅出现在基部。瘤的黏液腺和颗粒腺都比典型皮肤中的相应腺体大。不过，与典型皮肤不同的是，黏液腺比颗粒腺大。在卢氏梅氏螈中，黏液腺和颗粒腺遍布整个瘤，颗粒腺比黏液腺大，尽管这两种腺体都比典型皮肤中的相应腺体大。高加索梅氏螈和卢氏梅氏螈的背侧瘤可能不是同源结构，可能是趋同进化的结果。《形态学杂志》232:93 - 105，1997年。© 1997威利 - 利斯公司。
