asterozoa
|as-ter-o-zo-a|
🇺🇸
/ˌæstərəˈzoʊə/
🇬🇧
/ˌæstərəˈzəʊə/
star-shaped animals
Etymology
'asterozoa' originates from New Latin/Greek, specifically the elements 'aster' (Greek 'astēr') meaning 'star' and 'zoa' (Greek 'zōa', plural of 'zōon') meaning 'animals'.
'asterozoa' was formed in modern scientific (New Latin) taxonomy from the Greek roots 'astēr' + 'zōa' and was adopted into English scientific usage in the 19th–20th century as a name for the clade of star-shaped echinoderms.
Initially it literally meant 'star animals' (star-shaped animals); over time it became a technical term referring specifically to the echinoderm clade containing starfishes and brittle stars.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a taxonomic grouping (clade or subphylum) of echinoderms that includes star-shaped forms such as starfish (Asteroidea) and brittle stars (Ophiuroidea); broadly, 'star-shaped animals' within Echinodermata.
Paleontologists described several well-preserved asterozoa specimens from the Ordovician rock layers.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/11/06 05:16