The early development of Pedetontus unimaculatus from maturation to germ rudiment formation has been described by light and electron microscopy. Newly laid eggs of P. unimaculatus are in the metaphase of the first maturation division, and two successive maturation divisions produce two polar bodies. Nuclear divisions up to the eighth or ninth are accompanied by cytoplasmic divisions, and are holoblastic. Each resulting blastomere contains a single nucleus. Most cleavages are radial, but a few are tangential resulting in the formation of primary yolk nuclei. After the eighth or ninth nuclear division, cytoplasmic divisions are restricted to the egg periphery, and these later cleavages are superficial. Boundaries of blastomeres gradually disappear. Nuclei, which settle in the peripheral cytoplasm, proliferate and differentiate into blastoderm cells, and they also give rise to secondary yolk nuclei. A posterior circular region of blastoderm thickens and concentrates to form a germ rudiment 50-100 μm in diameter. During the formation of a germ rudiment the serosal cuticle begins to form. A similar pattern of cleavage was observed in other species of the Machilidae belonging to four genera in two subfamilies (Machilinae, genus Haslundichilis; Petrobiinae, genera Pedetontus, Pedetontinus, Petrobiellus). The cleavage pattern of the machilids closely resembles that found in the myriapod groups, the Symphyla, Diplopoda, ana Pauropoda, as well as in the apterygote Collembola, but it differs from the purely superficial cleavage pattern characteristic of the apterygote Thysanura sensu stricto (Zygentoma) and the Pterygota. It is concluded 1) that the pattern of early total cleavage changing later to superficial cleavage is a plesiomorphic character for the Antennata, and 2) that the purely superficial pattern is an apomorphic character within the Hexapoda.
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