Spermatophore
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
A spermatophore is a capsule or mass created by males of various invertebrate species, containing spermatozoa and transferred in entirety to the female during sex. Sometimes contains nourishment for the female and is thus sometimes called a nuptial gift.
In various insects such as Bush Crickets the spermatophore is often surrounded by a proteonaceous spermatophylax.The function of the spermatophylax is to cause the female to relinquish some of her control over the insemination process allowing full sperm transfer from the spermatophore.
