Embryology and Zool. Pl. -æa, -ea. [mod.L. irreg. f. Gr. στόμα mouth + ὁδαῖος that is on or by the road.] The anterior portion of the digestive tract, beginning as an invagination of the epiblast.
1876. Ray Lankester, in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci., XVI. 64. A second invagination forms the true mouth and the stomodæum. [Foot-note] This term and its correlative ‘proctodæum’ I propose for the oral and anal invaginations.
1900. G. C. Bourne, in Ray Lankester’s Treat. Zool., II. Anthozoa, 7. The elongation of the mouth and stomodaeum confers a bilateral symmetry on the Anthozoan zooid.
Hence Stomodæal, -eal a., belonging to or constituting a stomodæum.
1883. Ray Lankester, in Encycl. Brit., XVI. 637/1. (Mollusca) Both behind and before the stomodæal invagination.
1892. E. B. Wilson, in Jrnl. Morphol., VI. 418. The stomodæal arc rapidly enlarges. Ibid. The stomodæal glands.
