page_title: Development of the reproductive system
section_title: External genitalia
hierarchical_section_title: Development of the reproductive system / External genitalia
caption_attribution_description: English: Application of Image:Gray1119.png The mesoderm extends to the midventral line
context_page_description: The development of the reproductive system is a part of prenatal development, and concerns the sex organs. It is a part of the stages of sexual differentiation. Because its location, to a large extent, overlaps the urinary system, the development of them can also be described together as the development of the urinary and reproductive organs.
  The reproductive organs are developed from the intermediate mesoderm. The permanent organs of the adult are preceded by a set of structures which are purely embryonic, and which with the exception of the ducts disappear almost entirely before the end of fetal life. These embryonic structures are the mesonephric ducts and the paramesonephric ducts. The mesonephric duct remains as the duct in males which gives rise to seminal vesical, epididymes and vas deferens, and the paramesonephric duct as that of the female.
context_section_description: Until about the ninth week of gestational age the external genitalia of males and females look the same, and follow a common development. This includes the development of a genital tubercle and a membrane dorsally to it, covering the developing urogenital opening, and the development of the labioscrotal fold, also called the urogenital fold, and the labioscrotal swelling.
  Even after differentiation can be seen between the sexes, some stages are common, e.g. the disappearing of the membrane. On the other hand, sex-dependent development include further protrusion of the genital tubercle in the male to form the glans of the penis and in the female, the clitoral glans. The urogenital fold evolves into the shaft of the penis in males and the labia minora in females; the labioscrotal swelling evolves into the scrotum in males, and into the labia majora in females.
caption: The mesoderm extends to the midventral line
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