Definition of Autotomy

1. Noun. Spontaneous removal or casting off of a body part (as the tail of a lizard or claw of a lobster) especially when the organism is injured or under attack.

Generic synonyms: Remotion, Removal
Derivative terms: Autotomic, Autotomize

Definition of Autotomy

1. Noun. spontaneous removal of a limb, tail etc, especially by some invertebrates as a self-defense mechanism ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Autotomy

1. the shedding of a damaged body part [n -MIES]

Medical Definition of Autotomy

1. The act of casting off a body part as a means of escape; e.g., the limb of a crab or the tail of a lizard. Origin: auto-+ G. Tome, a cutting (05 Mar 2000)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Autotomy

autotetraploids
autotetraploidy
autotheism
autotheistic
autotherapies
autotherapy
autothermic
autotomic
autotomies
autotomise
autotomize
autotomized
autotomizes
autotomizing
autotomous
autotomy (current term)
autotonsorialist
autotopagnosia
autotoxaemia
autotoxic
autotoxicities
autotoxicity
autotoxicosis
autotoxin
autotoxins
autotransformation
autotransformer
autotransformers
autotransfusion
autotransfusions

Literary usage of Autotomy

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Biological Bulletin by Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, Mass.) (1911)
"ON THE CAUSE OF autotomy IN TUBULARIA. OSCAR RIDDLE. In the course of studies on the oxidizing and reducing powers of the various tissues and body regions ..."

2. Regeneration by Thomas Hunt Morgan (1901)
"autotomy • The process of autotomy differs only in degree from the process of self-division. In autotomy the part thrown off does not produce a new animal. ..."

3. International Catalogue of Scientific Literature by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1906)
"Glaser, 0[tto] C. autotomy, regeneration and natural selection. Science, New York, NY, (N. Ser.), 20, 1904, (149-153). ..."

4. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1904)
"autotomy.—Professor Morgan regards the process of autotomy as a fatal stumbling block for the theory of natural selection. ..."

5. Contributions from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research by Bermuda Biological Station for Research (1916)
"These experiments gave no definite results, as autotomy was produced with some individuals and not with others; and even in the first instances autotomy was ..."

6. College zoology by Robert William Hegner (1918)
"autotomy. — Perhaps the most interesting morphological structure connected with ... This breaking off of the legs at a definite point is known as autotomy, ..."

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