nematophoren.
/ˈnɛmətəfɔː/, /ˈniːmətəfɔː/, /nᵻˈmatəfɔː/, U.S. /ˈnimədəˌfɔr/, /ˈnɛmədəˌfɔr/, /nəˈmædəˌfɔr/; see also nemato- comb. form. Zoology.
A specialized cup-shaped nematocyst-bearing dactylozooid in the coenosarc of certain colonial hydrozoans.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Hydrozoa > member of > zooid > part of coenosarc
nematophore1859
1859 T. H. Huxley Oceanic Hydrozoa (Ray Soc.) 11 These nematophores..are cæcal processes of the cœnosarc.
1861 J. R. Greene Man. Animal Kingdom II. 34 The nematophores probably serve as organs of offence. They are most numerous in the genus Plumularia.
1898 A. Sedgwick Student's Text-bk. Zool. I. 126 Nematophores are probably nutritive, catching food as an Amœba does.
1946 H. Woods Palæontol. Invertebr. (ed. 8) 57 In the Plumulariidæ there are, in addition to the ordinary polyps, others which are solid and tentacle-like; they are usually provided with nematocysts and are called nematophores; each one is placed in a hydrotheca.
1968 J. Bouillon in M. Florkin & B. T. Scheer Chem. Zool. II. i. i. 98 The hydroid colonies often include special sexual polyps, the gonozooids; protective polyps, provided with nematocysts, the dactylozooids or machozooids (of several types: tentaculozooids, spiralozooids, nematophores or sarcostyles) or protective individuals not provided with nematocysts, but constituting chitinous spines, the acanthozooids.
1986 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 228 115 Between the feeding hydranths on the upper surface of the lateral branches are nematophores, small polyps that have nematocysts but no mouth.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1859