echiuranadj.n.
/ɛkᵻˈjʊərən/, U.S. /ˌɛkiˈjʊrən/ Zoology.
A. adj.
Of or relating to the phylum Echiura (formerly Echiuroidea).
ΚΠ
1969 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 255 499 The hypofauna is very characteristic: shiny black, finger-sized Holothuria.., a thalasssemid echiuran worm, a Sipunculus, a glycerid and a nereid polychaete worm.
1987 Nature 1 Jan. 22/2 ‘Microfauna’ refers to vertebrates at the lower end of the vertebrate scale, most of which are larger than echiuran worms.
2002 P. Herring Biol. Deep Ocean App. 284 Tube dwellers often have elaborate tentacles to sweep the sediment surface (like echiuran worms but on a smaller spatial scale).
B. n.
An animal of the phylum Echiura (formerly Echiuroidea); a spoonworm.
ΚΠ
1971 Micronesica 7 137 (title) Some Sipunculans and Echiurans, chiefly from Guam.
1987 M. S. Laverack & J. Dando Lect. Notes Invertebr. Zool. (ed. 3) xix. 95/1 Most echiurans burrow in mud and sand.
2008 Nature 10 Apr. 745/1 We find strong support for several new hypotheses. These include a clade that unites annelids (including sipunculans and echiurans) with nemerteans, phoronids and brachiopods.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1969