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Ovoviviparity


Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, or ovivipary, is a mode of reproduction in animals in which embryos that develop inside eggs remain in the mother's body until they are ready to hatch. This method of reproduction is similar to viviparity, but the embryos have no placental connection with the mother and receive their nourishment from a yolk sac. In some species, this is supplemented by uterine secretions or other maternal provisioning.

The young of ovoviviparous amphibians are sometimes born as larvae, and undergo metamorphosis outside the body of the mother, and in some insect species, such as the tachinid flies, the embryos develop to the first larval instar stage before they are laid and the eggs hatch almost immediately.

Ovoviviparous animals are similar to viviparous species in which there is internal fertilization and the young ones are born alive, but differ in that there is no placental connection and the unborn young ones are nourished by egg yolk; the mother's body does provide gas exchange (sharks and rays). The terms "ovoviviparity" or "aplacental viviparity" have been deprecated because they encompass several unrelated modes of reproduction.

In some species, the internally developing embryos rely solely on yolk. This is known as "yolk-sac viviparity" and is regarded as a type of lecithotrophy (no maternal provisioning). Other species exhibit matrotrophy, in which the embryo exhausts its yolk supply early in gestation and mother provides additional nutrition. This additional provisioning may be in the form of unfertilized eggs (intrauterine oophagy), uterine secretions (histotrophy), or it may be delivered through a placenta. The first two of these modes were categorized under aplacental viviparity.


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