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variegatus are simple glands that branch off a tube extending dorsally into cloacal tissue. Junctional complexes between apices of adjacent epithelial cells are occasionally broached or otherwise absent, and sperm can be found in the intercellular canaliculi between such cells. Sperm nuclei typically are embedded in apical microvilli of the secretory cells forming the distal acini of the spermathecae. Sperm initially enter the cloaca in a tangled mass from the spermatophore cap, but within the spermathecal tubules, small groups become aligned along their long axes. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study these glands in females of the Southern Torrent Salamander, Rhyacotriton variegatus (Rhyacotritonidae), from northern California. Female salamanders in the suborder Salamandroidea store sperm in cloacal glands called spermathecae.