scutoid

English

Etymology 1

First described by Gómez-Gálvez et al. in a 2018 paper (see quotation below). Variously said to be from scutum or scutellum (parts of insect anatomy) or from Escudero, surname of one of the researchers, +‎ -oid.

Noun

scutoid (plural scutoids)

1. A geometrical solid described as a mix between a frustum and a prismatoid.

   A scutoid can be regarded as a prism that is truncated at one or more vertices, with faces and edges sized such that suitably oriented copies of said scutoid can be arranged to fully pack the space between two planes.

   • 2018, Pedro Gómez-GálvezPablo Vicente-MunueraAntonio Taguaet al., “Scutoids are a geometrical solution to three-dimensional packing of epithelia”, in Nature Communications, volume 9, →DOI:

     As a consequence, epithelial cells adopt a novel shape that we term “scutoid”. […] Using biophysical arguments, we propose that scutoids make possible the minimization of the tissue energy and stabilize three-dimensional packing.

   • 2019, Felix Reichel, Johannes Mauer, Ahmad Ahsan Nawaz, Gerhard Gompper, Jochen R. Guck, Dmitry Fedosov, “High Troughput Microfluidic Characterization of Erythrocyte Shapes and Mechanical Variability”, in Biophysical Journal, page 123a:

     Our energetics analysis reveals that scutoids allow tissues to minimize the packing energy and we propose that such geometrical shape is nature’s solution to epithelial bending.

   • 2020, Ghislain Gillard, Katja Röper, “Control of cell shape during epithelial morphogenesis: recent advances”, in Current Opinion in Genetics & Development, →DOI, page 8:

     It has been postulated that ‘scutoids’ are part of a continuum of cell shapes and 3D arrangements, together with frusta and prisms

Further reading

• August 2018, Matt Parker, “THE SCUTOID: did scientists discover a new shape?”, Standupmaths (YouTube).

Etymology 2

From scutellum +‎ -oid.

Noun

scutoid (plural scutoids)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Scutoid, a genetic mutation in Drosophila melanogaster