Three ephrin ligands have partially redundant pro-apoptotic functions. Germ-cell corpse quantification in strains carrying mutations in the genes for canonical ephrins, efn-1, efn-2, and efn-3. efn-1,2,3 triple mutants show a strong germ-cell death defect, similar to vab-1/EphR-null mutants (n: N2 wild type, 35; efn-1, 41; efn-2, 22, efn-3, 25; efn-2,3, 25; efn-1,2,3, 35, vab-1, 40; Mann–Whitney test with ties adjustment, *P<0.005). Experiments were performed under ced-10(RNAi) conditions. Mutations used: efn-1(e96), efn-2(ev658), efn-3(ev696), and vab-1(dx31). Data are from at least three independent experiments and represent the mean±S.E.M.