sporocyst

[ spawr-uh-sist, spohr- ]

/ ˈspɔr əˌsɪst, ˈspoʊr- /

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noun Biology.

a walled body resulting from the multiple division of a sporozoan, which produces one or more sporozoites.

a stage in development of trematodes that gives rise, asexually, to cercaria.

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Origin of sporocyst

First recorded in 1860–65; sporo- + -cyst

OTHER WORDS FROM sporocyst

spo·ro·cys·tic

[spawr-uh-sis-tik, spohr-], /ˌspɔr əˈsɪs tɪk, ˌspoʊr-/, adjective

Words nearby sporocyst

Spork, sporo-, sporoagglutination, sporoblast, sporocarp, sporocyst, sporocyte, sporogenesis, sporogenous, sporogonium, sporogony

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use sporocyst in a sentence

Within this snail—Linnæa truncatula—the egg develops into a sac-like body, called a sporocyst.
Stories of the Universe: Animal Life|B. Lindsay
We sometimes find the cercarian age passed over, and the young distomes appear abundantly without tails in the sporocyst.
Animal Parasites and Messmates|P. J. Van Beneden
We may give more than one description of the distomian embryo as it leaves its sporocyst.
Animal Parasites and Messmates|P. J. Van Beneden
When stripped of their swimming tunic, these young distomes have the form of a bag, which for a long time was called a sporocyst.
Animal Parasites and Messmates|P. J. Van Beneden

The embryo, having long cili in front, and in the interior a sporocyst already full of young cercari, is shown in Fig. 44.
Animal Parasites and Messmates|P. J. Van Beneden

British Dictionary definitions for sporocyst

sporocyst

/ (ˈspɔːrəʊˌsɪst, ˈspɒ-) /

noun

a thick-walled rounded structure produced by sporozoan protozoans, in which sporozoites are formed

the saclike larva of a trematode worm that produces redia larvae by asexual reproduction

any similar structure containing spores

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for sporocyst

sporocyst

[ spôr′ə-sĭst′ ]

A larval form in many trematode flatworms that develops in the body of its molluscan intermediate host.

A secondary cyst that develops from a sporoblast and produces within itself one or several sporozoites.