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claspers

/ ˈklɑːspəz /

plural noun

  1. a paired organ of male insects, used to clasp the female during copulation
  2. a paired organ of male sharks and related fish, used to assist the transfer of spermatozoa into the body of the female during copulation
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Example Sentences

“And two penises. They’re called claspers,” Fred added, raising his eyebrows.

Claspers can be found in shrimp, aquatic insects and even sharks—and, crucially, trilobites’ modern analogues, horseshoe crabs.

Claspers suggest that, in some species, male and female trilobites had different looking bodies.

The looks of claspers in horseshoe crabs helped Losso and her team verify that the Olenoides appendages were more than just malformed feet.

Among them, researchers found two sets of short, grasping appendages that looked an awful lot like reproductive structures called claspers.

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