sporocyst

[spawr-uh-sist, spohr-]

noun

Biology.

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

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

sporocyst

/ ˈspɒ-, ˈspɔːrəʊˌsɪst /

noun

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

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

3. any similar structure containing spores

Other Word Forms

• sporocystic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sporocyst¹

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

Example Sentences

The sporocyst generally develops from an egg, but in its turn produces other larvæ by internal budding, or by the subdivision of a part or all of its contents into a number of minute germs.

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The period of development varies from ten to twenty weeks; each sporocyst may give rise to from five to eight redia and each redia to from twelve to twenty cercaria.

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The sporocyst, as it is now called, develops into a third generation known as redia which escape from the cyst.

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