sporocyst

sporocyst /spo·ro·cyst/ (-sist)

1. any cyst or sac containing spores or reproductive cells.

2. a germinal saclike stage in the life cycle of digenetic trematodes, produced by metamorphosis of a miracidium and giving rise to rediae.

3. a stage in the life cycle of certain coccidian protozoa, contained within the oocyst, produced by a sporoblast, and giving rise to sporozoites.

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spo·ro·cyst (spôr-sst)

n.

1. A larval form in many trematode flatworms that develops in the body of its molluscan intermediate host.

2. A secondary cyst that develops from a sporoblast and produces within itself one or several sporozoites.

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sporocyst

[spôr′əsist]

Etymology: Gk, sporos + kystis, bag

1 any structure containing spores or reproductive cells.

2 a saclike structure, or oocyst, secreted by the zygote of certain protists before sporozoite formation.

3 the second larval stage in the life cycle of parasitic flukes. The saclike organism develops from the miracidium, or first larval stage, in the body of a freshwater snail host and contains germinal cells that give rise either to daughter sporocysts that develop into cercariae or to rediae. See also fluke.

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sporocyst

1. any cyst or sac containing spores or reproductive cells; contained in the oocyst of coccidia in which sporozoites develop.

2. the larval stages of flukes in snails.