ophiurann.adj.
/ɒfɪˈjʊərən/, /ɒfˈjɔːrən/, U.S. /ˌɑfiˈjʊr(ə)n/, /ˌoʊfiˈjʊr(ə)n/ Zoology.
A. n.
A brittlestar; = ophiuroid n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [noun] > subphylum Eleutherozoa > class Ophiuroidea > member of
Ophiura1837
brittlestar1841
sand-star1841
serpent-star1851
ophiuran1864
spinigrade1864
ophiurid1869
ophiuroid1870
ophiure1890
1864 Reader No. 85. 204/2 Starfishes, echinoids, or ophiurans.
1880 Science 18 Sept. 147/2 They all begin at a stage where it would be impossible to distinguish a Sea-urchin from a Star-fish, or an Ophiuran, or a Crinoid, or an Holothurian.
1905 Science 5 May 695/1 Among the animals brought up in the trawl there were..some large ophiurans.
1938 Amer. Midland Naturalist 19 210 Two other interesting ophiurans..posses the unusual ability for serpent star [sic] of being able to swim rather efficiently.
1991 Bull. Inst. Zool. Academia Sinica 30 118/1 This report is based on 54 specimens of 10 species of ophiurans..collected from..Taiwan's coastal waters.
B. adj.
Of or relating to brittlestars; = ophiuroid adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [adjective] > belonging to class Ophiuroidea
spinigrade1841
ophiuroid1877
ophiuran1882
ophiurid1882
1882 Amer. Naturalist 16 88 On the developmental history of the ophiuran skeleton.
1899 Science 14 July 38/2 (caption) Protoplasm from a living ophiuran egg (Ophiura).
1940 Science 10 May 449/1 The material upon washing proved to contain a great number of disarticulated Ophiuran plates.
1996 Jrnl. Zool. 240 245 (title) Arm joint articulations in the ophiuran brittlestars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.adj.1864