Corneous

Corneous
This goat has corneous horns.
Gastropod shell of Viviparus contectus with its corneous operculum in place

Corneous is a biological and medical term meaning horny, in other words made out of a substance similar to that of horns and hooves in some mammals.

The word is generally used to describe natural or pathological anatomical structures made out of a hard layer of protein. In mammals this protein would usually be keratin.

The word corneous is also often used to describe the operculum of a snail, a gastropod mollusc. Not all gastropods have opercula, but in the great majority of those that do have one, the operculum is corneous. (However in several genera within a few families including the marine Naticidae and the terrestrial Pomatiidae, the operculum is primarily calcareous, in other words mostly made of calcium carbonate.) Corneous opercula are made out of the protein conchiolin.

References


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Corneous — Cor ne*ous ( ?s), a. [L. corneus, fr. cornu horn.] Of a texture resembling horn; horny; hard. Sir T. Browne. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • corneous — [kôr′nē əs] adj. [L corneus < cornu,HORN] horny; hornlike …   English World dictionary

  • corneous — adjective Etymology: Latin corneus Date: 1646 of a horny texture …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • corneous — adj. [L. corneus, of horn] Resembling horn; of hornlike texture; corniform …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • corneous — /kawr nee euhs/, adj. consisting of a horny substance; horny. [1640 50; < L corneus horny, equiv. to corn(u) HORN + eus EOUS] * * * …   Universalium

  • corneous — adjective Containing a horny substance; horny …   Wiktionary

  • corneous — Structures that are horny (sclerified), particularly as related to reproductive appendages (modified first pleopod) of first form males [Hobbs and Jass, 1988] …   Crustacea glossary

  • corneous — cor·ne·ous kȯr nē əs adj of a texture resembling horn * * * cor·ne·ous (korґne əs) [L. corneus] 1. horny. 2. keratinous (def. 1) …   Medical dictionary

  • corneous — Synonyms and related words: bony, cement, cemental, concrete, dense, diamondlike, dure, flintlike, flinty, granitelike, granitic, hard, hard as nails, hardhearted, horny, iron hard, ironlike, lapideous, lithoid, lithoidal, marble, marblelike,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • corneous — cor·ne·ous || kɔːnɪəs adj. horny, like horn …   English contemporary dictionary

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