merostomen.
/ˈmɪərəstəʊm/, /ˈmɛrəstəʊm/, U.S. /ˈmɛrəˌstoʊm/ Zoology.
A chelicerate arthropod of the class Merostomata, of which the horseshoe crab is the only extant member.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > order Xiphosura or Merostomata > [noun] > member of
xiphosure1837
sword-tail1858
xiphosuran1879
merostome1881
1881 Smithsonian Rep. 431 The Merostomes, i.e. the Horseshoe Crabs of the present epoch.
1900 Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 36 64 The track has a decided merostomatous appearance, but was probably made by a trilobite, as there are no Limuloid merostomes known to have existed in the Cambrian.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) VIII. 244/1 Merostomes are known from as early as Lower Cambrian.
1989 S. J. Gould Wonderful Life (1991) 112 The merostomes, or horseshoe-crab group.
Derivatives
ΚΠ
1890 Cent. Dict. Merostomous, same as merostomatous.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1881