infusorigen Zool.
(ɪnfjuːˈsɔərɪdʒɪn)
[f. infusori- (repr. infusoriform a.) + -gen.]
A hermaphroditic group of cells formed within a rhombogen during the life-cycle of species of the order Dicyemida (phylum Mesozoa) and giving rise to infusoriform larvæ.
| 1883 C. O. Whitman in Mitt. Zool. Station zu Neapel IV. 38 The entire cell-group may be called the Infusorigen, a term used by Van Beneden as a synonym for Rhomb gen. Ibid. 39 There arise in the course of the history of every Infusorigen two nuclei. 1940 L. H. Hyman Invertebrates I. iv. 239 After having given off a succession of pseudo⁓eggs, the infusorigens degenerate. 1964 T. C. Cheng Biol. Animal Parasites vii. 179/1 Most authorities on the Mesozoa now agree that infusorigens are hermaphrodites. 1972 Sci. Amer. Dec. 95/3 Some of the axoblasts, instead of developing into vermiform embryos, develop into a structure that remains within the axial cell of the adult vermiform and may be thought of as a hermaphroditic gonad. The term infusorigen has been applied to this structure, which in a sense is the only organ the Mesozoa possess. |