List of related male and female reproductive organs

This list of related male and female reproductive organs shows how the male and female reproductive organs and the development of the reproductive system are related, sharing a common developmental path. This makes them biological homologues. These organs differentiate into the respective sex organs in males and females.

Tail end of human embryo, from eight and a half to nine weeks old.

Diagrams that show the development of male and female organs from a common precursor. Sperm ducts and fallopian tubes are not homologous, as the sperm ducts originate from the Wolffian ducts, whereas the fallopian tubes originate from the Müllerian ducts.

List

Embryological precursor	Female	Male
Gonad	Ovary	Testicle
	Rete ovarii	Rete testis
Paramesonephric ducts (Müllerian ducts)	Fallopian tube
		Appendix testis
	Uterus, cervix, vagina^[1]	Prostatic utricle
Mesonephric ducts (Wolffian ducts)	Epoophoron	Epididymis
	Gartner's duct
		Vas deferens
		Seminal vesicle
Mesonephric tubules	Paroophoron	Paradidymis
Urogenital sinus	Skene's glands^[2]	Prostate
	Bladder, urethra	Bladder, urethra
	Bartholin's gland	Bulbourethral gland
Labioscrotal folds	Labia majora	Scrotum
Urogenital folds	Labia minora	Ventral penile skin and penile raphe
Genital tubercle	Clitoris	Penis
	Glans clitoridis	Glans penis
	Corpus clitoridis	Corpus penis
Crus	Clitoral crura	Penile crura
Bulb	Clitoral bulbs	Penile bulb
Erectile tissue	Corpora cavernosa clitoridis	Corpora cavernosa penis
Prepuce	Clitoral hood	Foreskin
Frenulum	Clitoral frenulum	Penile frenulum
Peritoneum	Canal of Nuck	Processus vaginalis
Gubernaculum	Round ligament of uterus	Gubernaculum testis

Internal organs

Embryological precursor	Female	Male
3. Ureter	Ureter	Ureter
4. Urinary bladder	Urinary bladder	Urinary bladder
5. Urachus	Urachus	Urachus
i. Lower part of the intestine	i. Lower part of the intestine	i. Lower part of the intestine
cl. Cloaca
cp. Elevation which becomes clitoris or penis (genital tubercle)	cc. Corpus cavernosum clitoridis	cp. Corpus cavernosum penis cut short
ug. Sinus urogenitalis	C. Greater vestibular gland, and immediately above it the urethra	C. Bulbourethral gland of one side
	f. Abdominal opening of the left uterine tube
	g. Round ligament, corresponding to gubernaculum	g. Gubernaculum
	h. Situation of the hymen
m, m. Right and left Müllerian ducts uniting together and running with the Wolffian ducts in gc, the genital cord		m. Müllerian duct, the upper part of which remains as the hydatid of Morgagni; the lower part, represented by a dotted line descending to the prostatic utricle, constitutes the occasionally existing cornu and tube of the uterus masculinus
ot. The genital ridge from which either the ovary or testis is formed.	o. The left ovary	t. Testis in the place of its original formation; t', together with the dotted lines above, indicates the direction in which the testis and epididymis descend from the abdomen into the scrotum.
	Skene's glands a.k.a. paraurethral gland	pr. Prostate
	u. Uterus. The uterine tube of the right side is marked m.
	va. Vagina
		vh. Ductus aberrans
		vs. Vesicula seminalis
W. Left Wolffian body		W. Scattered remains of the Wolffian body, constituting the organ of Giraldès, or the paradidymis of Waldeyer.
w, w. Right and left Wolffian ducts	W. Scattered remains of Wolffian tubes near it (paroöphoron of Waldeyer); dG. Remains of the left Wolffian duct, such as give rise to the duct of Gartner, represented by dotted lines; that of the right side is marked w.
	po. Epoophoron

Stages in the development of the external sexual organs in the male and female:

A: Undifferentiated
B: Female
C: Male
D: Female
E: Male
F: Female

Development of external genitalia

External organs

The external genitalia of both males and females have similar origins. They arise from the genital tubercle that forms anterior to the cloacal folds (proliferating mesenchymal cells around the cloacal membrane). The caudal aspect of the cloacal folds further subdivides into the posterior anal folds and the anterior urethral folds. Bilateral to the urethral fold, genital swellings become prominent. These structures are the future scrotum and labia majora in males and females, respectively.

The genital tubercles of an eight-week-old embryo of either sex are identical. They both have a glans area, which will go on to form the clitoral glans (females) or penile glans (males), a urogenital fold and groove, and an anal tubercle. At around ten weeks, the external genitalia are still similar. At the base of the glans, there is a groove known as the coronal sulcus or corona glandis. It is the site of attachment of the future prepuce. Just anterior to the anal tubercle, the caudal end of the left and right urethral folds fuse to form the urethral raphe. The lateral part of the genital tubercle (called the lateral tubercle) grows longitudinally and is about the same length in either sex.

Human physiology

The male external genitalia include the penis and the scrotum. The female external genitalia include the clitoris, the labia, and the vestibule, which are collectively called the vulva. External genitalia vary widely in external appearance among different people.

One difference between the glans penis and the glans clitoridis is that the glans clitoridis packs nerve endings into a volume only about one-tenth the size of the glans penis. Therefore, the glans clitoridis has greater variability in cutaneous corpuscular receptor density (1-14 per 100× high-powered field) compared with the glans penis (1-3 per 100× high-power field). Touch for touch, this concentration of nerves makes the glans clitoridis more sensitive than the glans penis. As a result, many women can feel discomfort or pain with anything more than a gentle touch.^[3]

References

^ Cai Y (2009). "Revisiting old vaginal topics: conversion of the Müllerian vagina and origin of the "sinus" vagina". Int J Dev Biol. 53 (7): 925–34. doi:10.1387/ijdb.082846yc. PMID 19598112.
^ Arulkumaran, Sabaratnam; Ledger, William; Doumouchtsis, Stergios; Denny, Lynette (December 2019). Oxford Textbook of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-876636-0.
^ Cheryl Shih, Christopher J. Cold, and Claire C. Yang. "Cutaneous Corpuscular Receptors of the Human Glans Clitoris: Descriptive Characteristics and Comparison with the Glans Penis", Journal of Sexual Medicine, Elsevier, July 2013.

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

[1] Cai Y (2009). "Revisiting old vaginal topics: conversion of the Müllerian vagina and origin of the "sinus" vagina". Int J Dev Biol. 53 (7): 925–34. doi:10.1387/ijdb.082846yc. PMID 19598112.

[2] Arulkumaran, Sabaratnam; Ledger, William; Doumouchtsis, Stergios; Denny, Lynette (December 2019). Oxford Textbook of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-876636-0.

[3] Cheryl Shih, Christopher J. Cold, and Claire C. Yang. "Cutaneous Corpuscular Receptors of the Human Glans Clitoris: Descriptive Characteristics and Comparison with the Glans Penis", Journal of Sexual Medicine, Elsevier, July 2013.

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