allantois

biology

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

allantois, an extra-embryonic membrane of reptiles, birds, and mammals arising as a pouch, or sac, from the hindgut. In reptiles and birds it expands greatly between two other membranes, the amnion and chorion, to serve as a temporary respiratory organ while its cavity stores fetal excretions. In mammals other than marsupials the allantois is intimately associated with the chorion, contributing blood vessels to that structure as it forms—in conjunction with the endometrium, or mucosal lining, of the uterus—the placenta.