Cestodes important terms

The head of a tapeworm, used to attach to the host intestinal wall

Scolex

A retractable projection at the tip of the scolex, often armed with hooks

Rostellum

A slit-like attachment groove on the scolex of Diphyllobothrium

Bothrium

A single body segment of a tapeworm that contains reproductive organs

Proglottid

The chain of proglottids that makes up the tapeworm body behind the scolex

Strobila

A tapeworm body that is a single unit with no segments

Monozoic

A tapeworm body made of many segments

Polyzoic

The four muscular cup-like attachment organs on the scolex of Taenia

Acetabula

Muscular cup-shaped structures on the scolex used to hold onto the host

Suckers

The living outer body covering of a tapeworm that absorbs nutrients from the host

Tegument

Having both male and female reproductive organs in the same individual

Monoecious

The first larval stage, a six-hooked embryo found inside the egg

Oncosphere

A larva with an inverted scolex and a small cyst, found in an invertebrate host such as a flea or beetle

Cysticercoid

A large fluid-filled cyst of Echinococcus larvae in the liver or lungs of the intermediate host

Hydatid cyst

The ciliated free-swimming larva that hatches from the egg of Diphyllobothrium in water

Coracidium

The larval stage of Diphyllobothrium found in the copepod

Procercoid

The larval stage of Diphyllobothrium found in fish that infects humans when eaten

Plerocercoid