nucleoconch

plural nucleoconchs · plural nucleoconches

1. biologyThe embryonic shell of a foraminifera, especially the protoconch and deuteroconch of a megalospheric form.

   This nucleoconch is less than half the size of that seen in the sections of D. crassa.

   1945, John West Wells, American Old and Middle Tertiary Larger Foraminifera and Corals, page 77

   1 more example

   A microspheric nucleoconch does not have an obvious deuteroconch, and is followed by a spiral nepionic stage, no matter what the adult chamber arrangement may be.

   1954, Alan Hilder Smout, Lower Tertiary Foraminifera of the Qatar Peninsula, British Museum (Natural History), page 25