oogamous, a. Biol.
(əʊˈɒgəməs)
[f. oo- + Gr. γάµ-ος marriage + -ous.]
Applied to organisms which reproduce (or to reproduction) by union of dissimilar (male and female) cells; spec. when one of these (the female cell or ovum) is stationary and fertilized by the motile male cell. So oogamete (əʊˈɒgəmiːt), either of the two (male and female) cells in oogamous reproduction; oˈogamy, oogamous reproduction.
| 1888 Athenæum 29 Dec. 886/2 The sexual cells being zoogametes..its affinity is rather with Pandorineæ than with oogamous Volvoceæ. 1891 Hartog in Nature 17 Sept. 484/1 True Parthenogenesis: the direct development of a facultative gamete without karyogamy..may occur in..Oogametes. 1894 S. H. Vines Students' Text-bk. Bot. 225 Oogamy: the female organ is an oogonium. 1897 Syd. Soc. Lex., Reproduction, oögamous, reproduction by means of an ovum or ova. 1933 G. M. Smith Fresh-Water Algae U.S. 288 The evolution from isogamy to oögamy may be independent of any evolution in thallus structure. 1971 P. H. B. Talbot Princ. Fungal Taxon. vii. 91 Oogamy, such as occurs in some of the lower fungi, is but a specialized form of gametangial contact. |