lamp shell
noun
A marine invertebrate which superficially resembles a bivalve mollusc but has two or more arms of ciliated tentacles (lophophores) that are extended for filter-feeding. Lamp shells are common as fossils. Also called brachiopod.
- Phylum Brachiopoda: numerous groups in the Palaeozoic era but few surviving to the present day.
- For example, horseshoe crabs (Limulus) and lampshells (Lingula) both occur in shallow marine environments, where many predators and competitors exist, particularly since the Cretaceous Period.
- Until now, the earliest animals known to be coloured were lamp shells that lived about 350 million years ago.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from its resemblance to an ancient oil lamp.
- molecular orbital
- molecular rotation
- molecular sieve
- molecular weight
- molecular wire
- molecule
- Mole-Dagbane
- Mole-Dagbani
- mole drain
- mole drainage
- mole-drainer
- mole-draining
- mole-eyed
- mole fraction
- mole-heap
- molehill
- molehillish
- mole-hillock
- mole-hole
- molehunt
- mole-like
- mole plant
- mole plough
- moler
- mole rat