amplexus
nounEtymology Unadapted borrowing from Latin amplexus (“embrace”).
1
Biology, Natural sciences, Zoology A form of pseudocopulation, found chiefly in amphibians and horseshoe crabs, in which a male grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process.
- Finally, we came upon a pair of Panamanian robber frogs locked in amplexus—the amphibian version of sex.2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, chapter 1, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Henry Holt and Company:
- In the middle, just below the surface, a male and a female were locked in amplexus, a coupling that can last for days as the male waits to fertilise the eggs when they are laid.2018 March 29, Ed Douglas, “Country diary: tantric embraces and nuptial pads – the secrets of frog sex revealed”, in The Guardian:
- Related terms
- amplect, amplection, amplexion, amplex, amplexation, amplexus reservatus