melanophoren.

1903 Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 39 261 The conspicuous black bodies of Anolis..well buried in the derma and sending branching processes outward toward the epidermis, correspond to the melanophores described by Keller.

1946 Nature 7 Sept. 344/1 The pigmentary hormone of Dixippus, the regulator of colour change in this animal, activates the melanophores of frogs..by causing expansion of them.

1953 Science 5 June 640/1 Investigators in biology and medicine at the present time are using different terms for the same cell. For example, the term melanophore which has long been used by biologists refers to certain dendritic-shaped cells in the skin of fish, amphibians and reptiles which have ‘contractile’ properties. The melanin contained in the melanophores may, in response to certain stimuli, disperse into the dendrites or concentrate in the perikaryon, thus accounting for the color change. In human cytology and pathology the term melanophore is a macrophage.

1965 J. Lee & F. Knowles Animal Hormones x. 128 A characteristic feature of hormonally controlled melanophores is that colour change takes hours to occur, whereas this is achieved in minutes if there is nervous control.

1981 R. N. Hardy Endocrine Physiol. vii. 78 The skin of certain submammalian vertebrates contains cells called melanophores which contain granules of the pigment melanin.