cloaca
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cloaca
[klo-a´kah] (pl. cloa´cae) (L.)1. a common passage for fecal, urinary, and reproductive discharge in most lower vertebrates.
2. in mammalian embryos, the terminal end of the hindgut before division into rectum, bladder, and the primordia of the reproductive organs.
3. an opening in the covering or sheath of a necrosed bone. adj., adj cloa´cal.
clo·a·ca
(klō-ā'kă),1. In early embryos, the endodermally lined chamber into which the hindgut and allantois empty.
2. In birds and monotremes, the common chamber into which open the hindgut, bladder, and genital ducts.
[L. sewer]
cloaca
(klō-ā′kə)n. pl. cloa·cae (-sē′)
Zoology
a. The common cavity that serves as the opening for the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts in many vertebrates, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, monotremes, and some fishes.
b. The posterior part of the intestinal tract in various invertebrates.
clo·a′cal (-kəl) adj.
cloaca
EmbryologyThe terminal hindgut before it divides into the rectum, bladder and genital primordia.
Pathology
An obsolete term for an opening in the involucrum of necrotic bone.
Zoology
A common conduit in most lower vertebrates for faecal, urinary and reproductive discharge.
clo·a·ca
, pl. cloacae (klō-ā'kă, -sē)1. In early embryos, the endodermally lined chamber into which the hindgut and allantois empty.
2. In birds and monotremes, the common chamber into which the hindgut, bladder, and genital ducts empty.
[L. sewer]