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Glite Dictionary
🧬 Fertile sperm 🧬 A fertile sperm
eupyrene

eupyrene

9.9
A normal sperm cell in some insects that can fertilize eggs
  • noun
  • Specialized
: eupyreno
  • Insects in this group produce two distinct sperm types: fertile "eupyrene" sperm and smaller, non-fertile "apyrene" sperm, which lack nuclei.

Examples

  • Insects such as bees and moths produce eupyrene sperm cells that are essential for successful fertilization.

  • Females who opted to remate had significantly fewer apyrene sperm from the first male in their spermathecae, whereas the numbers of stored eupyrene sperm did not differ.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The study focused on how the quantity of eupyrene sperm affects reproductive success in various insect species.

  • To ensure fertilization occurs, female insects often store eupyrene sperm for later use.

Antonyms

apyrene
  • Specialized
9.9

A sperm cell without a nucleus and not carrying genetic material

How Fertile

eupyrene
  • Specialized
9.9
apyrene
  • Specialized
9.9

Surface Forms

eupyrene singular
eupyrenes plural

Morphology

eupyrene = eu + pyrene

Formed from specialised combining elements (eu- + pyrene) used in entomological terminology, so knowing the components does not let an average learner reliably infer the technical biological sense.

Etymology

Eupyrene comes from Greek parts eu- 'good', as in euphoria, and -pyrene 'seed', so it literally means 'good seed' and refers to a normal, fertile sperm cell in certain insects.