In decapod crustaceans, spermatophores studied to date have been categorized into three different types. One type of spermatophore is pedunculate and is present in all anomurans except for a few species in Hippidae (Greenwood, 1972; Trelli et al., 2007; Tudge, 1999; Scelzo et al., 2004). Another type of spermatophore is tubular and has several layers made of acellular material and they are found in the form of an interrupted column as in A. leptodactylus, Pacifastacus leniusculus, Homarus americanus, Enoplometopus occidentalis (J. W. Randall, 1840) and Panulirus homarus (Kooda-Cisco and Talbot, 1982; Haley, 1984; Mann, 1984; Radha and Subramoniam, 1985) or units pinched off the column (Dudenhausen and Talbot, 1983). The third type of spermatophore is the simplest form of spermatophore and is found in brachyuran crabs. They are small and either ellipsoid or spherical. This type might form the sperm plug in the seminal receptacle of the female that prevents other male sperm from getting into the female reproductive tract (Cronin, 1947; Ryan, 1967; Hinsch and Walker, 1974; Krol et al., 1992).

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