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procercoid

The first stage in the aquatic life cycle of certain tapeworms, such as the pseudophyllideans (family Diphyllobothriidae), following ingestion of the newly hatched larva (coracidium) by a copepod (water flea). The procercoid develops into a tailed larva in the body cavity of the crustacean first intermediate host; when the procercoid and its host are ingested by a fish, the procercoid enters the new host's tissues and becomes a plerocercoid.

See: diphyllobothrium latum, pseudophyllidea.

Origin: pro-_ G. Kerkos, tail, _ eidos, resemblance