cryptostomy
Noun
An adaptation in which the mouth is reduced to a slit and its location is concealed.
- Examples
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They are comparatively large, without outgrowths, of a rounded shape, with a flattened ventral surface and cryptostomy or plagiostomy with a lip.
The slit-like pseudostome is hidden by the dorsal lip and an extension of the ventral shell wall (cryptostomy).
More examples (1)
Two other morphological features, plagiostomy and cryptostomy, are considered to be adaptations to life in soil; both involve a reduction in the size of the pseudostome in proportion to the test and the formation of a vestibule (Fig. 11) and both tend, therefore, to protect the cell against dessicaation (Bonnet, 1961a, 1964).