Pedicellaria

Definitions

  • Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • n Pedicellaria (Zoöl) A peculiar forcepslike organ which occurs in large numbers upon starfishes and echini. Those of starfishes have two movable jaws, or blades, and are usually nearly, or quite, sessile; those of echini usually have three jaws and a pedicel. See Illustration in Appendix.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n pedicellaria In echinoderms, a small two-pronged pincer-like body upon the exterior, as of a starfish, attached to the spines and to the body-wall. See cut under Echinoidea.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Pedicellaria a minute structure on the skin of sea-urchins and star-fish, like a stalk with a three or two bladed snapping forceps at the summit
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
NL. See Pedicel
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Fr. pédicelle—L. pediculus, dim. of pes, pedis, the foot.

Usage

In literature:

Thus every gradation, from an ordinary fixed spine to a fixed pedicellariae, would be of service.
"On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin
The pedicellariae on this Star-fish resemble large two-pronged clasps, arranged principally along the lower side.
"Seaside Studies in Natural History" by Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz
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Related words