English

Noun

trophus ‎(plural trophi)

1. Mouthpart of certain types of organism such as an insect or a member of the Rotifera.

Usage notes

In the study of various invertebrate animals, especially insects and rotifera, appendages used in feeding are called the trophi. This is the modern Latin plural of trophus, from the Greek for feeder, but the singular is rarely used in technical speech, largely because the context generally is collective, much as one always speaks of scissors or trousers in the plural. It is however neither illogical nor forbidden to speak of a trophus in referring to a single mouthpart or type of mouthpart. An example of a trophus in an insect such as a cockroach might be the labrum.