‖ spermatheca
(spɜːməˈθiːkə)
Pl. -thecae.
[f. sperma- + theca.]
A receptacle in the oviduct of female insects and invertebrates, in which fecundation of the ova takes place.
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xlii. IV. 147 n., Perhaps likewise the organ discovered by M. L. Dufour in Scolia..may be a spermatheca. 1841 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. 283 The spermatheca has a small accessory vesicle connected with it. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 206 The female apparatus is completed by two pairs of vesicular spermathecae. |
Hence spermaˈthecal a., of or belonging to the spermatheca.
| 1883 Lankester in Encycl. Brit. XVI. 658/2 On reaching the point where the spermathecal duct debouches they are impregnated by the spermatozoa. 1900 Proc. Zool. Soc. June 169 In the region of the spermathecal apertures. |