Chelicerata

plural noun Che·lic·er·ata \ kə-ˌli-sə-ˈrä-tə , -ˈrā-tə \

Definition of Chelicerata

: a subphylum or other division of the phylum Arthropoda comprising forms having chelicerae and lacking antennae and including the horseshoe crabs and eurypterids, spiders, scorpions, and sea spiders

A fossil eurypterid, representing the Chelicerata.
—Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life, 1989

— see arachnida , merostomata , pycnogonida

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Origin and Etymology of chelicerata

borrowed from New Latin, Latinization (with New Latin -ata-ata) of French chélicérés, from chélicèrechelicera + -és, plural of -é, adjective and participle ending going back to Latin -ātus³-ate

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1919

in the meaning defined above

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