plagiostomy

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noun

An adaptation in which the mouth is diminished, firmly closed, and located on the ventral side protected deeply within a carapace.

Scrabble 19

Meanings

noun
  1. biologyAn adaptation in which the mouth is diminished, firmly closed, and located on the ventral side protected deeply within a carapace.

    They are comparatively large, without outgrowths, of a rounded shape, with a flattened ventral surface and cryptostomy or plagiostomy with a lip.

    1991, Biology Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, page 279
    2 more examples

    From its original subcerebral position (orthognathism) it shifts into a precerebral position (proguathism). That in connection with this rotation plagiostomy changes into teleostomy we will pass over in silence, although this phenomenon would give amble scope for interesting observations.

    1922, Proceedings of the Section of Sciences - Volume 25, page 375

    Two other morphological features, plagiostomy and cryptostomy, are considered to be adaptations to life in soil; both involve a reduction in the size of the pseudostome in proportion to the test and the formation of a vestibule (Fig. 11) and both tend, therefore, to protect the cell against dessicaation (Bonnet, 1961a, 1964).

    2012, A Burgers, Soil Biology, page 170

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

plagiostomy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plagiostomy

MLA

“plagiostomy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plagiostomy. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “plagiostomy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plagiostomy.

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