autosperm
English
Etymology
auto- + sperm
Noun
autosperm (countable and uncountable, plural autosperms)
- (biology) Sperm that has been produced endogenously.
- 1998, Tim R. Birkhead & Anders Pape Møller, Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection, →ISBN, page 237:
- Mating events whereby autosperm are donated to one partner while receiving allosperm from a third individual are known from sea slugs (see Chapter 8) and a monogenean flatworm (MacDonald and Caley 1975).
- 2000, Robert T. Dillon, The Ecology of Freshwater Molluscs, →ISBN, page 80:
- They seem to have mechanisms that favour fertilization by allosperm (donated by a partner) over autosperm (produced endogenously).
- 2011, Gregory A. Lewbart, Invertebrate Medicine, →ISBN, page 101:
- During copulation, the penis deposits the autosperm (which now become allosperm) into the vaginal channel of the distal hermaphroditic duct of another animal. The allosperm then travel to the spermatotheca.
-
Usage notes
This term is used primarily when discussing hermaphroditic organisms, to resolve the ambiguity of where sperm within the organism originated.
Related terms
- allosperm
Anagrams
- mousetrap, superatom