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oviparity
Sign in to saveAlso known as oviparous, ovipary, egg-laying
Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing unfertilized egg cells or fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs (eggs), which nurture the embryo into moving offspring (hatchlings) with little or no embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method used by most animal species, as opposed to viviparous animals that develop the embryos internally and metabolically dependent on the maternal circulation, until the mother gives birth to live juveniles.
Research
1,750 papers- Oviparity or viviparity? That is the question….Reproductive biology · 2012
- Facultative oviparity in a viviparous skink ( Saiphos equalis).Biology letters · 2019
- Genomic and transcriptomic investigations of the evolutionary transition from oviparity to viviparity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019
- Common lizard primary oviduct cell culture: A model system for the genetic and cellular basis of oviparity and viviparity.Experimental cell research · 2024
- The evolution of oviparity in squamate reptiles: An adaptationist perspective.Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution · 2015
via PubMed
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Modes of reproduction
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing unfertilized egg cells or fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs (eggs), which nurture the embryo into moving offspring (hatchlings) with little or no embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method used by most animal species, as opposed to viviparous animals that develop the embryos internally and metabolically dependent on the maternal circulation, until the mother gives birth to live juveniles.
Ovoviviparity is a special form of oviparity where the eggs are retained inside the mother (but still metabolically independent), and are carried internally until they hatch and eventually emerge outside as well-developed juveniles similar to viviparous animals.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “oviparity” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.