Protostoma

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Synonym of blastopore. obsolete

    "It is frequently stated by critics of the protostoma hypothesis that it involves a reversal of dorsal and ventral sides during the evolution of Vertebrates from their invertebrate ancestors but it will be gathered from what has been said that this criticism rests on a misunderstanding."

  2. 2
    In nematodes, a particular division of the stoma (mouthlike opening).

    "The protostoma with its wall—the protorhabdion—is the major part of the stoma."

Synonyms

All synonyms
blastopore

Example

More examples

"It is frequently stated by critics of the protostoma hypothesis that it involves a reversal of dorsal and ventral sides during the evolution of Vertebrates from their invertebrate ancestors but it will be gathered from what has been said that this criticism rests on a misunderstanding."

Etymology

From proto- + Ancient Greek στόμα (stóma, “mouth”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.