A feeding apparatus or mouth-like structure in certain protozoans, used for ingesting food particles.
From cyto- (Greek kytos, 'cell') + -ost (possibly from Greek osteon, 'bone', or from Latin os, 'mouth'). This rare term reflects early protozoology's attempt to describe cellular structures in anthropomorphic terms.
Early microscope users invented all sorts of creative names for structures they could barely see—'cytost' is one of the more poetic attempts to describe how single-celled creatures eat!
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