chelicerateadj.n.
/kəˈlɪs(ə)rət/, U.S. /kəˈlɪs(ə)rət/ Zoology.
A. adj.
1. Possessing chelicerae or jointed pincers.In later use not always distinguishable from sense A. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > [adjective] > of parts of > having chelae
cheliferous1759
chelate1803
chelicerate1890
1890 Jrnl. Microsc. & Nat. Sci. 3 139 McIntire points out the difficulty in giving credence to so great a change in mouth organs, as that from the suctorial one of Hypopus, to the mandibulate (or chelicerate at any rate) form in Gamasus.
1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. Chelicerate, bearing cheliceræ, or small pincers, as the appendages of the merostome crustaceans.
1940 Jrnl. Paleontol. 14 611/2 The cephalothorax bears six pairs of uniramous legs, the first chelicerate.
2. Of or relating to the arthropod group Chelicerata. Cf. mandibulate adj. 1b.
ΚΠ
1941 Rep. Subcomm. Ecol. Marine Organisms (National Res. Council (U.S.)) 10 Dr. Kenneth Caster..is much interested in the ichnology of the chelicerate arthropods and other fossil tracks and burrows.
1970 Biol. Bull. 139 520 (title) Control of molting in mandibulate and chelicerate arthropods by ecdysones.
1998 Cladistics 14 173 The phylogeny of the extant chelicerate orders is examined.
2004 Nature 21 Oct. 978 The large chelate first appendage is consistent with a chelicerate affinity for the pycnogonids.
B. n.
An arthropod of the group Chelicerata.
ΚΠ
1951 Encycl. Brit. II. 458/1 Class I. Xiphosurida.—Large, marine chelicerates.
1989 S. J. Gould Wonderful Life (1991) 106 Most modern chelicerates have six uniramous appendages on the prosoma.
1999 T. Pratchett et al. Sci. of Discworld xxx. 218 We knew..just four conventional types of arthropod: trilobites (now extinct), chelicerates (spiders, scorpions), crustaceans (crabs, shrimp), and uniramians (insects and others).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.n.1890