urostyle

American  

[yoor-uh-stahyl] / ˈyʊər əˌstaɪl /

noun

Anatomy.

1. the fused vertebrae at the posterior end of the spinal column of some fishes and tailless amphibians.

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urostyle British  

/ ˈjʊərəʊˌstaɪl /

noun

1. the bony rod forming the last segment of the vertebral column of frogs, toads, and related amphibians

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Etymology

Origin of urostyle

First recorded in 1870–75; uro- ² + -style ²

Example Sentences

Posteriorly the vertebral column terminates in the urostyle, a calcified unsegmented rod.

From Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

As the tadpole approaches the frog stage the vertebral column in the tail is rapidly absorbed, and its vestiges appear in the adult as the urostyle.

From Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

Basiventral arcualia have been supposed to be represented by the hypochord, a median rod of cartilage beneath the shrinking notochord in the postsacral region, which at metamorphosis ossifies to produce the bulk of the urostyle.

From The Ancestry of Modern Amphibia: A Review of the Evidence by Eaton, Theodore H. (Theodore Hildreth)