Definition of Asteroidea in English:
Asteroidea
plural nounˌastəˈrɔɪdɪəˌastəˈroidēə
Zoology A class of echinoderms that comprises the starfishes.
Example sentencesExamples
- Members of the Asteroidea are often called ‘true starfish’ and are closely related to the Ophiuroidea, having a common ancestor in the Ordovician.
- A traditional hypothesis of the Echinodermata using only extant taxonomic groups places the Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea as sister groups based on the shared derived characteristic of a five-rayed body plan.
- Together, the two ancient fossils demonstrate that the class Asteroidea was established by early in the Ordovician.
- The body outline is similar to the Asteroidea, in that they have five arms joined to a central disk (calyx).
- The phylogeny and taxonomy of the Asteroidea led Gregory to begin his paper with a note of frustration: ‘The classification of the Palaeozoic starfishes has long been in chaos.’
- True starfish are classified in the Asteroidea, a group of echinoderms.
Origin
Modern Latin (plural), from Greek asteroeidēs 'starlike', from astēr 'star'.