HYPOSTOME

Hypostome

A hypostome, is a calcified harpoon-like structure near the mouth area of certain parasitic arthropods including ticks and mites, that allows them to anchor themselves firmly in place on a host mammal while sucking blood. This mechanism is normally so strong that removal of a lodged tick requires two actions: One to remove the tick, and one to remove the remaining head section of the tick.

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hypostome

Noun

  1. An appendage on the mouth of some insects and arachnids


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: hypostome
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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