noun
definition
A spermospore.
definition
A capsule or pocket enclosing a number of spermatozoa, found in many annelids, brachiopods, insects, mollusks, and crustaceans.
Examples of spermatophore in a Sentence
It seems probable that in such cases the spermatozoa make their way from the adherent spermatophore through the body-wall into the body, and so by traversing the tissues reach the ovary.
In the typical newts (Molge) of Europe, the males are adorned during the breeding season with bright colours and crests or other ornamental dermal appendages, and, resorting to the water, they engage in a lengthy courtship accompanied by lively evolutions around the females, near which they deposit their spermatozoa in bundles on a gelatinous mass, the spermatophore, probably secreted by the cloacal gland.
This arrangement facilitates the internal fecundation of the female without copulation, the female absorbs the spermatozoa by squeezing them out of the spermatophore between the cloacal lips.
Other newts, and many salamanders, whether terrestrial or aquatic, pair, the male embracing the female about the fore limbs or in the pelvic region, and the males of such forms are invariably devoid of ornamental secondary sexual characters; but in spite of this amplexation the same mode of fecundation by means of a spermatophore is resorted to, although it may happen that the contents of the spermatophore are absorbed direct from the cloaca of the male.