Definition of "spermatheca" []

• A receptacle in the reproductive tracts of certain female invertebrates, especially insects, in which spermatozoa are received and stored until needed to fertilize the ova. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "These spermatozoa, whose number Dr. Leuckart estimates at twenty-five millions, are preserved alive in a special gland known as the spermatheca, that is situate under the ovaries, at the entrance to the common oviduct."
• "But, the spermatheca is a "last in, first out" structure, thus if any further males inseminate a female, the last mate's sperm is the first in line to fertilise an egg."
• "I often confuse the 2 terms, spermatheca and spermatophore."