Re: Dinosaur "baculae"

[ornstn@inforamp.net (Ronald Orenstein)]

>     Are croc dongers and duck dicks true penises or hemipenes?  What would 
>a hypothetical dino dinkie be?  What exactly is the difference between a 
>penis and a hemipene?  
>     Yes folks, we challange the borders of scientific terminology every 
>day.

Actually I believe they are neither.  The general term for all such
structures is "intromittent organ".  A true (ie mammalian) penis is
independent of the digestive tract.  Hemipenes are (as the name implies)
paired structures on either side of the cloacal opening in lizards (all?
some?) that assist in guiding sperm into the female's cloaca.  The
intromittent organ of ratites is, I believe, a single structure consisting
of an extension of the cloaca (as is the intromittent organ of the so-called
"Tailed" frog Ascaphus truei of western North America).
--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116 (home)
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