The spermatheca in podotreme crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Podotremata) and its phylogenetic implications Author Guinot, Danièle Author Quenette, Gwenaël Histoire naturelle, Département Milieux et Peuplements aquatiques, case postale 53, 61 rue Buffon, F- 75231 Paris cedex 05 (France) guinot @ mnhn. fr guinot@mnhn.fr text Zoosystema 2005 27 2 267 342 journal article 10.5281/zenodo.5397969 1638-9387 5397969 Lyreidus tridentatus De Haan, 1841 Female, 17 mm wide, Philippines , MUSOR- STOM 2, stn 30 (MNHN). The complete sternite 7 is trough-like; it slightly widens anteriorly and becomes deeper to form a depression ( Guinot 1993b : fig. 4; Hartnoll 1979: 76 , 80, figs 1-3). The two small spermathecae face each other on opposite sides of this depression and are separated by the vertical median wall, marked externally by the median line ( Fig. 24A ). “A rather indistinct suture crosses it [median line] to link the two openings: this is where the endosternites 7/8 fuse with the median apodeme and the seventh sternite” ( Hartnoll 1979: 77 , 78). Each spermathecal aperture is occluded by a membranous area and opens close to the female gonopore on P3 coxa. Because of the distortion of the posterior axial skeleton, “it is possible for the spermathecae to lie in endosternites 7/8, yet at the same time to open anteriorly well away from the sternal suture 7/8” ( Hartnoll 1979: 78 ).