Figure 12 in A deeper phylogeny of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)

Figure 12. Structure of the epigynum in spiders (after Uhl et al. 2009). The hapogyne arrangement, with a single median gonopore serving as both the copulatory duct and ovipositor, is considered to be primitive in spiders. In the Entelegynae (grade 31), sperm is deposited by the male through a pair of copulatory ducts leading to the spermathecae, and only later passes through a pair of fertilization ducts to fertilize each egg as it passes through the medial uterus externa. A recent study (Zhan et al. 2019) has refined our understanding of the entelegyne condition, which appears to include a secondary uterus externus connnected to the two fertilization ducts leading from the sperm reservoirs (spermathecae).