Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A capsule or compact mass of spermatozoa that is transferred from the male to the female during mating in many invertebrates and certain salamanders.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A special case, capsule, or sheath containing spermatozoa; specifically, one of the peculiar spermatic cysts of cephalopods (also called
spermatic or seminal cartridge, seminal rope, or filament of Needham), usually forming a long cylindrical structure in which several envelops may be distinguished.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Physiol.) Same as
spermospore . - noun (Zoöl.) A capsule or pocket inclosing a number of spermatozoa. They are present in many annelids, brachiopods, mollusks, and crustaceans. In cephalopods the structure of the capsule is very complex.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology A
spermospore . - noun zoology A
capsule orpocket enclosing a number ofspermatozoa , found in manyannelids ,brachiopods ,mollusks , andcrustaceans .
Etymologies
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Examples
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But, unless it's her first time around the block, there's a decent chance that somebody else's spermatophore is already in there.
Boing Boing 2009
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Instead of the familiar-to-us method of copulation, male cockroaches produce a hard, little packet full of sperm, called a spermatophore, which they transfer into their favorite gal.
Boing Boing 2009
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The spermatheca (also called the bursa copulatrix) is an organ that can't be exchanged, while a spermatophore is a packet of sperm that is given to a slug's (or a snail's) partner during mating and may or may not be stored in the spermatheca.
How a glaring error of mine was corrected a year later AYDIN 2008
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Instead of the familiar-to-us method of copulation, male cockroaches produce a hard, little packet full of sperm, called a spermatophore, which they transfer into their favorite gal.
Boing Boing 2009
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The first two pleopods of males are modified to transfer sperm to the female, while females have a calcified area between the fourth pair of periopods used to receive the male's spermatophore during copulation.
Crustacea 2008
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I often confuse the 2 terms, spermatheca and spermatophore.
How a glaring error of mine was corrected a year later AYDIN 2008
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During mating of hermaphrodite land snails, each partner places a spermatophore, a bag of spermatozoa (sperm cells), in their partner's bursa copulatrix (BC).
Archive 2007-02-01 AYDIN 2007
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The spermatophore is digested in the BC and only a small fraction of the spermatozoa escapes to the higher parts of the female reproductive system to fertilize the partner's eggs.
Archive 2007-02-01 AYDIN 2007
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The spermatophore is digested in the BC and only a small fraction of the spermatozoa escapes to the higher parts of the female reproductive system to fertilize the partner's eggs.
Love darts for you my love AYDIN 2007
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The male drops a spermatophore (a packet of sperm) that the female picks and stores in spermathecae until needed.
Arthropoda 2007
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