scolex

The knoblike anterior end of a tapeworm, having suckers or hooklike parts that in the adult stage serve as organs of attachment to the host on which the tapeworm is parasitic.

PI. scoleces (skō˙-lē′ sēz), erroneously scolices (skol′ i-sēz). In Scolecida, the larva produced from the egg, which may by gemmation give rise to infertile deutoscoleces, or to ovigerous proglottides; the embryo of an entozoic worm, as a fluke or tape; a cystic worm or cysticercus; a hydatid. See cuts under Tænia.

[capitalized] An old genus of worms.

The embryo produced directly from the egg in a metagenetic series, especially the larva of a tapeworm or other parasitic worm. See Illust. of echinococcus.

One of the Scolecida.

The structure at the rear end of a tapeworm which, in the adult, has suckers and hooks by which it attaches itself to a host.