pseudotail

plural pseudotails · alternative pseudo-tail

1. An appendage that is similar to a tail in location and gross appearance but which lacks some of the features of a true tail.

   A number of species, however, have a pseudotail consisting of a few postcloacal vertebrae, but annulation is incomplete and a terminal shield is consistently present.

   2002, Jay M. Savage, The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica, →ISBN, page 115

   2 more examples

   The spermatozoon of Saduria entomon is long and bent, resembling a whip. It consists of a very long pseudotail (1.86 mm long), which lacks an axoneme, and an extended head (112 pm long) that hangs down at an acute angle,” scientists in Poznan, Poland report.

   2012, Issues in Life Sciences: Zoology, →ISBN

   A true human tail (persistent vestigial tail) is rare and is differentiated from a pseudotail and an acrochordon by the presence of a central core of mature fatty tissue, small blood vessels, bundles of muscle fibers, and nerve fibers.

   2014, Lawrence F. Eichenfield, Ilona J. Frieden, Andrea Zaenglein, Neonatal and Infant Dermatology, →ISBN