gubernaculum

Males can be distinguished from females by two structures: the spicules and gubernaculum.

The gubernaculum, also chitinous, is a small structure which acts as a guide for the spicules.

The males also have paired spicules but lack a gubernaculum and bursa.

Also, in the inguinal crest a structure, the gubernaculum testis, makes its appearance.

The scrotal ligament is actually the remnant of gubernaculum in a fetus.

By the fifth month the lower part of the gubernaculum still is a thick cord, while the upper part has disappeared.

The gubernaculum grows into a thick cord.

The upper part of the gubernaculum degenerates.

The lower part persists as the gubernaculum testis ("scrotal ligament").

The spicules usually have a distinct wing-like expansion in the middle region and often bear ridges; there is no gubernaculum.

In males, it precedes the testis in their descent down within the gubernaculum, and closes.

As development advances, the peritoneum enclosing the gubernaculum forms two folds, one above the testis and the other below it.

The gubernaculum later becomes the proper ovarian ligament and the round ligament of the uterus.

Accessory male organs are sometimes important in identification, especially of the trichostrongyloids, the two most important being the spicules and gubernaculum (Fig. 6).

The gubernaculum is present only during the development of the urinary and reproductive organs, being replaced by distinct vestiges in males and females.

The round ligament develops from the gubernaculum which attaches the gonad to the labioscrotal swellings in the embryo.

Just as in the male, there is a gubernaculum in the female, which pulls it downward, albeit not as much as in males.

The pouch accompanies the gubernaculum during development of the urinary and reproductive organs, more specifically during the descent of the ovaries, and normally obliterates.

In parasitology, the gubernaculum is a sclerotized structure in the nematodal cloaca wall that is instrumental in guiding the protrusion of the spicule.

A torsion which occurs outside of the tunica vaginalis, when the testis and gubernaculum can rotate freely, is termed an extravaginal testicular torsion.

As the testes develops, the main portion of the lower end of the gubernaculum is carried, following the skin to which it is attached, to the bottom of this pouch.

Cryptorchidism in AMH deficiency suggests that AMH may play a role in transabdominal testicular descent, perhaps by facilitating contraction of the gubernaculum.

The gubernaculum in the female lies in contact with the fundus of the uterus and adheres to this organ, and thus the ovary can only descend as far as to this level.