Insect axopods

Using the elctron microscope we have found axopods, a cell organelle previously undescribed in multicellular animals, in the lower Malpighian tubule of the insect. Rhodnius prolixus. The axopods, which are 0.2 to 0.8 micrometer in diameter and 10 or more micrometer in length, derive from the luminal surface of the tubule and contain an array of 1 to about 46 microtubules each. These microtubules arise within the cell near the cell junctions or near clumps of mitochondria. Uric acid crystals which occur naturally in the lower tubule have been observed to move down the tubule under experimental conditions where peristalsis and fluid secretion can be ruled out. We suggest that the axopods are motile and serve to transport the crystals along the narrow tubule lumen. Since cilia are not found on somatic cells of arthropods, we suggest that axopods have evolved in the lower tubule to perform a function analogous to a ciliated epithelium in other animals.