REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF LYCHAS TRICARINATUS (SIMON)

¹ Department of Zoology, Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum, India

1. An unusual instance of embryonic diapause in a scorpion is described. Among the eggs that are fertilised at a time, only a few sink into the ovarian tube and continue to develop to maturity while the others remain in a state of arrested growth or diapause, until the extrusion of the first batch of embryos. Further insinking of the eggs appears to be prevented by the secretion of corpus luteum 1.

2. After the extrusion of the first batch of embryos the diapausing embryos get revived and sink into the ovarian tube to give rise to the next brood. The termination of the "diapause." also, appears to be in response to a secretion from another glandular structure, termed here corpus luteum 3. This incidentally explains how Lychas can produce two or three broods in succession without undergoing repeated copulation.