Procercoid
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procercoid
[prō′sər‚kȯid] (invertebrate zoology)
The solid parasitic larva of certain eucestodes, such as pseudophyllideans, that develops in the body of the intermediate host.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Procercoid
one of the larval stages of certain tapeworms (including the broad fish tapeworm). A procercoid is approximately 0.05 mm long and is spindle-shaped. The posterior end is distinct from the rest of the body and is equipped with three pairs of chitinoid hooklets. The procercoid stage is usually passed in the body cavity of copepods, which serve as the first intermediate hosts of many tapeworms. After the second intermediate host—a fish—swallows the parasitized copepod, the procercoid is converted in the fish’s body into the next larval stage—the plerocercoid.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.