Scolex
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scolex
[′skō‚leks] (invertebrate zoology)
The head of certain tapeworms, typically having a muscular pad with hooks, and two pairs of lateral suckers.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Scolex
the head or anterior portion of the body of a tapeworm, or cestode, by which the parasite attaches itself to the wall of the host’s intestine. The scolex may have any one of various organs of attachment: bothria (longitudinal slits of which there are generally two), sucking disks, and chitinized hooks. In highly developed tapeworms the scolex has four semispheric muscular sucking disks. Many cestodes are characterized by a scolex having sucking disks and a proboscis with hooks. The structure of a scolex, especially of the organs of attachment, is often used in taxonomy for species identification.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.