Extraembryonic membrane

An extraembryonic membrane is one of the membranes which assist in the development of the embryo. Such membranes occur in a range of animals from humans to insects. They originate from the embryo, but are not considered part of it. They typically perform roles in nutrition, gas exchange, and waste removal.[1]

There are four standard extraembryonic membranes in birds, reptiles, and mammals: the yolk sac which surrounds the yolk, the amnion which surrounds and cushions the embryo, the allantois which among avians stores embryonic waste and assists with the exchange of carbon dioxide with oxygen as well as the resorption of calcium from the shell, and the chorion which surrounds all of these and in avians successively merges with the allantois in the later stages of egg development to form a combined respiratory and excretory organ called the chorioallantois.[2]

References
  1. William K. Purves; Gordon H. Orians; H. Craig Heller (2003). Life: The Science of Biology. W. H. Freeman. p. 423. ISBN 978-0-7167-9856-9.
  2. Noble S. Proctor; Patrick J. Lynch (1993). Manual of Ornithology: Avian Structure & Function. Yale University Press. p. 234. ISBN 0-300-05746-6.


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