infusoriform, a.
(ɪnfjuːˈsɔərɪfɔːm)
[f. as prec. + -form. repr. G. infusorienartig infusorian-like (A. Kölliker 1849, in Ber. von der k. zootomischen Anstalt zu Würzburg II. 61).]
Having the form of an infusorian. Usu. spec. designating or pertaining to a stage in the life-cycle of species of the order Dicyemida (phylum Mesozoa), which comprises parasites of certain cephalopods.
| 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. xi. 654 The embryos are of two kinds, the one vermiform, the other infusoriform. 1877 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XVII. 143 The infusoriform embryo probably distributes the species by transmitting the parasite from one cephalopod to another. 1883 Mitt. Zool. Station zu Neapel IV. 41 The infusoriform embryos desert the parent before the development of vermiform embryos begins. 1940 L. H. Hyman Invertebrates I. iv. 236 The infusoriform stage is an asexual larva. 1964 T. C. Cheng Biol. Animal Parasites vii. 179/1 The infusoriform larvae escape from the parent rhombogen and leave the host. 1967 H. W. & L. R. Levi tr. Kaestner's Invertebr. Zool. I. ii. 21 Only after fertilization do the ova detach, each developing into a short, egg-shaped dispersing infusoriform dicyemid. |