Glossary
Because there are some rather more difficult word definitions throughout the site, I have picked a few to go ahead and define here for you as seen in order through the website.
Taxonomic- The science dealing with the description, identification, naming, and classification of organisms.
Heterotrophic- An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition.
Invertebrate- Organisms lacking a backbone.
Vertebrate- Organisms with a backbone.
Bilateral symmetry- Symmetrical arrangement, as of an organism or a body part, along a central axis.
Parasite- An organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.
Scolex- The knoblike anterior end of a tapeworm, having suckers or hooklike parts that in the adult stage serve as organs of attachment to the host.
Proglottids- One of the segments or joints of a tapeworm, containing complete reproductive systems, usually both male and female.
Cladistic phylogenetic tree- A visual tree like presentation of organisms classified by differences.
Definitive host- The host in or on which a parasite spends the sexual stage of its life cycle.
Intermediate host- The host in which a parasite undergoes development but does not reach sexual maturity.
Cysticercoid- The larval stage of certain tapeworms, resembling a cysticercus but having the scolex completely filling the enclosing cyst.
Rostellum- An anterior prolongation of the head of a tapeworm often bearing hooks.
Tegument- A natural outer body across which nutrients may be absorbed.
Ganglia- A group of nerve cells forming a nerve center with a specific intellectual or industrial force or activity.
Microtriches- Highly specialized finger-like projections covering the entire surface of the tegument of cestodes.
Monoecious- Having both male and female organs in the same individual.
Hermaphroditic- Having both male and female organs in the same individual.
Strobilus- A reproductive structure that consists of sporophylls or scales arranged spirally or in an overlapping fashion along a centralpoint.
Sperm duct- Act as the vas deferens.
Cirrus- The male copulatory organ of flatworms and various other invertebrates.
Oviduct- A pair of tubes that transport the ova from the ovary to the exterior.
Ootype- Part of the oviduct of most flatworms in which the eggs are furnished with a shell.
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