Parazoan.
/ˌparəˈzəʊə/, U.S. /ˌpɛrəˈzoʊə/ Zoology.
In some zoological classifications: a division (originally a phylum, now a subkingdom) comprising the sponges. Cf. Porifera n.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Parazoa > [noun]
Parazoa1884
1884 W. J. Sollas in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. 24 614 While the Sponges are evidently homoplastic with the Metazoa they are of independent origin, having arisen as a separate phylum from the choano-flagellate Infusoria. For this phylum I propose the name Parazoa.
1963 G. A. Kerkut Borradaile & Potts's Invertebrata (rev. ed.) iii. 122 For this reason it is best that, in a classification of animals, they [sc. the sponges] should be given, under the name of Parazoa, the same rank as the Protozoa and Metazoa.
1982 Differentiation 23 109 All specimens of Eumetazoa and Parazoa..showed the pp60c-src associated kinase activity.
2000 C. Tudge Variety of Life ii. v. 190 Some zoologists treat Parazoa as a formal subkingdom but such a grouping would be paraphyletic and has no place in a cladistic taxonomy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1884