broad tapeworm

1 definition found

broad tapeworm - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Tapeworm \Tape"worm`\, n. (Zool.)
     Any one of numerous species of cestode worms belonging to
     Taenia and many allied genera. The body is long, flat, and
     composed of numerous segments or proglottids varying in
     shape, those toward the end of the body being much larger and
     longer than the anterior ones, and containing the fully
     developed sexual organs. The head is small, destitute of a
     mouth, but furnished with two or more suckers (which vary
     greatly in shape in different genera), and sometimes, also,
     with hooks for adhesion to the walls of the intestines of the
     animals in which they are parasitic. The larvae (see
     Cysticercus) live in the flesh of various creatures, and
     when swallowed by another animal of the right species develop
     into the mature tapeworm in its intestine. See Illustration
     in Appendix.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Three species are common parasites of man: the pork tapeworm
            (Taenia solium), the larva of which is
           found in pork; the beef tapeworm (Taenia mediocanellata
           ), the larva of which lives in the flesh
           of young cattle; and the broad tapeworm
           (Bothriocephalus latus) which is found chiefly in the
           inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Europe and
           Asia. See also Echinococcus, Cysticercus,
           Proglottis, and 2d Measles, 4.
           [1913 Webster]