Calyx (anatomy)

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Calyx is a term used in animal anatomy for some cuplike areas or structures.

Contents

Etymology

Latin, from calyx (from Ancient Greek κάλυξ, case of a bud, husk").

Cnidarians

The spicules containing the basal portion of the upper tentacular part of the polyp of some soft corals (also called calice).

Entoprocta

A body part of the Entoprocta from which tentacles arise and the mouth and anus are located. [1]

Echinoderms

The body disk that is covered with a leathery tegumen containing calcareous plates (in crinoids and ophiuroids the main part of the body where the viscera are located). [2]

Humans

Either a minor calyx in the kidney, a conglomeration of two or three minor calyces to form a major calyx, or the Calyx of Held, a particularly large synapse in the mammalian auditory central nervous system, named by H. Held in his 1893 article Die centrale Gehörleitung, [3] due to its flower-petal-like shape. [4]

Insects

In male insects, a funnel-shaped expansion of the basal part of the vas deferens (part of the seminal duct). Also in entomology, a flattened cap of neuropile in an insect brain (a component of the corpus pedunculatum) and by certain female insects, an expansion of the oviduct into which the ovarioles open.

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Bryozoa Phylum of colonial aquatic invertebrates called moss animals

Bryozoa are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about 0.5 millimetres long, they have a special feeding structure called a lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles used for filter feeding. Most marine bryozoans live in tropical waters, but a few are found in oceanic trenches and polar waters. The bryozoans are classified as the marine bryozoans (Stenolaemata), freshwater bryozoans (Phylactolaemata), and mostly-marine bryozoans (Gymnolaemata), a few members of which prefer brackish water. 5,869 living species are known. One genus is solitary; all the rest are colonial.

Invertebrate Animals without a vertebrate column

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Larva Juvenile form of distinct animals before metamorphosis

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Coelom The main body cavity in most animals

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Entoprocta Phylum of aquatic invertebrates

Entoprocta, or Kamptozoa, is a phylum of mostly sessile aquatic animals, ranging from 0.1 to 7 millimetres long. Mature individuals are goblet-shaped, on relatively long stalks. They have a "crown" of solid tentacles whose cilia generate water currents that draw food particles towards the mouth, and both the mouth and anus lie inside the "crown". The superficially similar Bryozoa (Ectoprocta) have the anus outside a "crown" of hollow tentacles. Most families of entoprocts are colonial, and all but 2 of the 150 species are marine. A few solitary species can move slowly.

Kinorhyncha Phylum of small marine pseudocoelomate invertebrates

Kinorhyncha is a phylum of small marine invertebrates that are widespread in mud or sand at all depths as part of the meiobenthos. They are also called mud dragons. Modern species are 1 mm or less, but Cambrian forms could reach 4 cm.

Cephalization

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Eucarida Superorder of crustaceans

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Phrynophiurida Order of brittle stars

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Orussidae Family of wasps

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Mesenchyme Type of connective tissue found mostly during the embryonic development of bilateral triploblast animals

Mesenchyme is a type of loosely organised animal embryonic connective tissue of undifferentiated cells that gives rise to blood and lymph vessels, bone, and muscle.

Calyx of Held

The Calyx of Held is a particularly large synapse in the mammalian auditory central nervous system, so named after Hans Held who first described it in his 1893 article Die centrale Gehörleitung because of its resemblance to the calyx of a flower. Globular bushy cells in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) send axons to the contralateral medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB), where they synapse via these calyces on MNTB principal cells. These principal cells then project to the ipsilateral lateral superior olive (LSO), where they inhibit postsynaptic neurons and provide a basis for interaural level detection (ILD), required for high frequency sound localization. This synapse has been described as the largest in the brain.

Accessory bone Additional bone found in some people

An accessory bone or supernumerary bone is a bone that is not normally present in the body, but can be found as a variant in a significant number of people. It poses a risk of being misdiagnosed as bone fractures on radiography.

Insect morphology

Insect morphology is the study and description of the physical form of insects. The terminology used to describe insects is similar to that used for other arthropods due to their shared evolutionary history. Three physical features separate insects from other arthropods: they have a body divided into three regions, have three pairs of legs, and mouthparts located outside of the head capsule. It is this position of the mouthparts which divides them from their closest relatives, the non-insect hexapods, which includes Protura, Diplura, and Collembola.

References

  1. R.C.Brusca, G.J.Brusca. Invertebrates. Sinauer Associates, 2 ed.(2003)
  2. A.R.Maggenti et al., Online Dictionary of Invertebrate Zoology, digitalcommons.unl.edu, 2005
  3. Held, H."Die centrale Gehörleitung" Arch. Anat. Physiol. Anat. Abt, 1893
  4. Satzler, K., L. F. Sohl, et al. (2002). "Three-dimensional reconstruction of a calyx of Held and its postsynaptic principal neuron in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body." J Neurosci 22(24): 10567-79.