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Butler University

Series

2002

Sexual segment

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Ultrastructure Of The Reproductive System Of The Black Swamp Snake (Seminatrix Pygaea). Part Iii. The Sexual Segment Of The Male Kidney., David M. Sever Jan 2002

Ultrastructure Of The Reproductive System Of The Black Swamp Snake (Seminatrix Pygaea). Part Iii. The Sexual Segment Of The Male Kidney., David M. Sever

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

In mature male snakes and lizards, a distal portion of the nephron is hypertrophied in relation to its appearance in females and immature males. This sexual segment of the male kidney apparently provides seminal fluid that is mixed with sperm and released into the female cloaca during copulation. In this article, we provide the first study at the ultrastructural level of seasonal variation in the sexual segment of the kidney of a squamate, the natricine snake Seminatrix pygaea. Previous workers have indicated that the sexual segment is secretory only when the testes are spermatogenically active. The sexual segment of the …