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promastigote

term now generally used instead of leptomonad or leptomonad stage, to avoid confusion with the flagellate genus leptomonas. It denotes the flagellate stage of a trypanosomatid protozoan in which the flagellum arises from a kinetoplast in front of the nucleus and emerges from the anterior end of the organism; usually an extracellular phase, as in the insect intermediate host (or in culture) of leishmania parasites.

Origin: pro-_ G. Mastix, whip