A comparative study on the ultrastructure of the spermatozoa of 20 species of Protura belonging to 16 genera and 8 families was conducted. The most remarkable characteristics are the unexpected diversity of the spermatozoa, both in shape and fine structure. In general they can be grouped into two main categories: long flagellate spermatozoa and short aflagellate ones. Accordingly two sperm evolutionary lines of the spermatozoa were obtained: one trends towards the complicated acrosome structure and the increased number of axonemal doublets, and the other line is to shorten cell form and simplify sperm structure. The results indicate that the spermatozoa of Hesperentomon may be the primitive type, and the spermatozoa of Eosentomids probably represent the most evolved type. A sperm evolutionary tree was drawn according to the apomorphies of proturan spermatozoa. The phylogenetic position of Protura was also discussed.
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