hermaphroditism

1. An anomalous condition in humans and animals in which both male and female reproductive organs and secondary sexual characteristics are present in the same individual.
2. The presence of both male and female reproductive organs in a plant or animal, as in an earthworm or a monoecious plant.

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A condition in which components of both testes and ovaries are present in the same individual. Although true hermaphroditism is common among lower forms of animals such as annelidsand mollusks, it is rare in humans. A more common condition in humans is pseudoher-maphroditism, which simulates hermaphroditism. In female pseudohermaphroditism, or gynandry, the external sexual characteristics are in part or wholly of the male aspect, but internal female genitalia are present. In male pseudohermaphroditism, or androgyny, the individual has external sexual characteristics of female aspect, but has testes (usually undescended). See also Ovary; Reproductive system disorders.

Hermaphroditic animals have both male and female reproductive systems. Hermaphroditism provides a means for animals to reproduce sexually without finding mates. For example, individuals in many species of tapeworms fertilize their own eggs. In other species such as earthworms, each individual serves as a male and female during mating, both donating and receiving sperm.

A state characterized by the presence of both ovarian and testicular tissue and of ambiguous morphological criteria of sex. Hermaphroditism is not to be confused with pseudohermaphroditism, in which an individual with only one kind of gonad possesses reproductive organs that reflect some characteristics of the opposite sex, owing to improper balance of male and female hormones or other endocrine disorder.

• bilateral h. — that in which gonadal tissue typical of both sexes occurs on each side of the body.
• false h. — pseudohermaphroditism.
• lateral h. — presence of gonadal tissue typical of one sex on one side of the body and tissue typical of the other sex on the opposite side.
• sequential h. — see hermaphrodite.
• synchronous h. — see hermaphrodite.
• transverse h. — that in which the external genital organs are typical of one sex and the gonads typical of the other sex.
• true h. — coexistence in the same animal of both ovarian and testicular tissue, with somatic characters typical of both sexes.
• unilateral h. — presence of gonadal tissue typical of both sexes on one side and of only an ovary or a testis on the other.