(1) A male gamete of a red alga.
(2) In rust fungi a spore that develops in a spermagonium. Spermatia may be spread by insects, thereby promoting the transfer of rudiments of organisms of one sex to the fungi of the other sex. The spermatia of rust fungi are also called pycnidios-pores.
(3) A spore of ascomycetous fungi that are part of lichens. In some species the spermatia apparently function as male sex elements; in others they have lost this function, and their role is not clear. The spores are often called conidia or pycnidiospores.