polyhedrosis Ent.
(pɒlɪhiːˈdrəʊsɪs, -hɛˈdrəʊsɪs)
Pl. -oses (-ˈəʊsiːz).
[f. polyhedral a. + -osis.]
A fatal disease of caterpillars, characterized by the presence of polyhedral virus particles.
| 1947 Science 3 Oct. 323/2 The fragility of the integument and the marked internal liquefaction of tissues, so characteristic of polyhedroses, is absent. 1967 K. M. Smith Insect Virology ii. 8 The polyhedroses are subdivided into nuclear and cytoplasmic diseases. 1973 Nature 2 Nov. 5/3 The outbreak tends to end abruptly in the spring of the third year, because of the explosive spread of a nuclear polyhedrosis virus which kills off some of the caterpillars at the end of their first moult (instar). |