magnetoreceptorn.
/maɡˌniːtəʊrᵻˈsɛptə/, U.S. /mæɡˈˌnɛdoʊrəˈˌsɛptər/, /mæɡˈˌnidoʊrəˈˌsɛptər/, /mæɡˈˌnɛdoʊriˈˌsɛptər/, /mæɡˈˌnidoʊriˈˌsɛptər/ Biology.
A postulated organ or part of the brain by which various animals sense magnetic fields, esp. that of the earth.
ΚΠ
1973 Biofizika 18 137 (heading) Magnetoreceptor reactions of hyaloid eel.
1980 Nature 8 May 99/2 The presumed mediator of such effects would be a highly sensitive magnetoreceptor which the birds would normally use to extract navigational information from the geomagnetic field.
1995 Jrnl. Exper. Biol. 198 141/2 Bobolinks magnetized with different polarities were significantly oriented in directions different from one another and from the controls... These results indicate an effect specific to a particle-based magnetoreceptor.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1973