Monotoma (s. str.) testacea Motschulsky, 1845

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2021, Morphology of immature stages and life cycle of Monotoma testacea Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Monotomidae), Zootaxa 4941 (1), pp. 51-83 : 54

Monotoma (s. str.) testacea Motschulsky, 1845

Egg

( Figs 1–4 )

Eggs oval, brown ( Figs 1–3 ), about twice as long as broad, length 418–431 μm, width 205–220 μm (n = 10); chorion with polygonal (mostly hexagonal) sculpture ( Fig. 4 ) composed of dense asperities forming irregular ridges surrounding flat alveolae; the latter covered with much smaller and densely distributed asperities, median group of asperities in each alveola fused and forming an irregular tubercle. Micropyle not found. Most eggs have a small projection on one end ( Fig. 3 ). The projection is on the end that left the female’s oviduct last during egg laying. The hatching larva pushes and separates a broad oval dorsal portion of chorion near the “basal” end (i.e., opposite to the projection), about as long as or slightly longer than 1/3 of egg.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Monotoma testacea, eggs. Egg packets laid on lump of baker’s yeast (1); eggs laid on blotting paper (2–3); surface of chorion (4).