Cryptostomy

Quick meaning: Cryptostomy is a noun meaning (biology) An adaptation in which the mouth is reduced to a slit and its location is concealed.

Meaning

(biology) An adaptation in which the mouth is reduced to a slit and its location is concealed.

Example Sentences

The slit-like pseudostome is hidden by the dorsal lip and an extension of the ventral shell wall (cryptostomy).

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

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).

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include plagiostomy, lipostomy, stomatoplasty, neostomy, stoma, cheilostom.

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