autosperm

English

Etymology

auto- +‎ sperm

Noun

autosperm (countable and uncountable, plural autosperms)

  1. (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.

Anagrams
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.