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flatworm

(Encyclopedia)flatworm: see Platyhelminthes; worm. ...

tapeworm

(Encyclopedia)tapeworm, name for the parasitic flatworms forming the class Cestoda. All tapeworms spend the adult phase of their lives as parasites in the gut of a vertebrate animal (called the primary host). Most ...

hairworm

(Encyclopedia)hairworm, worm of the phylum Nematomorpha. ...

nematode

(Encyclopedia)nematode, common name for any worm of the phylum Nematoda. ...

bloodworm

(Encyclopedia)bloodworm, name for the larva of the midge and for a red-blooded marine polychaete worm. ...

earthworm

(Encyclopedia)earthworm, terrestrial, cylindrical segmented worm of the class Oligochaeta. There are 2,200 earthworm species, found all over the world except in arid and arctic regions and ranging in size from 1 in...

river blindness

(Encyclopedia)river blindness or onchocerciasis, disease caused by the parasitic nematode worm Onchocerca volvulus. The worm larvae are transmitted by the bites of blackflies (genus Simulium) that live in fast movi...

elephantiasis

(Encyclopedia)elephantiasis ĕlˈəfăntīˈəsĭs [key], abnormal enlargement of any part of the body due to obstruction of the lymphatic channels in the area (see lymphatic system), usually affecting the arms, le...

planarian

(Encyclopedia)planarian, common name for several genera of the free-living (turbellarian) flatworms belonging to the order Tricladida, a name that derives from their characteristic three-branched digestive cavities...

endless screw

(Encyclopedia)endless screw, screw fixed so that it cannot move longitudinally as it rotates. Thus, instead of the usual action in which a screw advances itself through a medium as it turns, the screw remains stati...

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