astropyle Zool.
(ˈæstrəʊpaɪl)
[f. Gr. ἄστρον star + πύλη gate.]
A tubular aperture or funnel-like membranous projection found in some radiolarians.
| 1887 E. Haeckel Radiolaria in Rep. Challenger XVIII. i. p. iv, This osculum is closed by a radiate cover (astropyle or operculum radiatum). 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 876 Or again there is a main oral aperture or astropyle... The astropyle consists of a tubular proboscis, rising from the centre of a radially striated disc or operculum. 1901 Calkins Protozoa iii. 70 The Cannopylea, in which the membrane around the pores is drawn out into funnel-like projections termed astropyles. |