arthropod
arthropods
An arthropod is an animal with no internal spine, a body made of joined segments, and a hard covering, like a shell. Spiders are one type of arthropod.
Many different kinds of animals fall into the category known as arthropods, most of them insects or spiders, but also including crustaceans like shrimp, crabs, and lobsters. Their bodies are jointed and they have an exoskeleton, their hard outer covering. The Modern Latin root is Arthropoda, which is also the name of the animals' phylum, and which means "those with jointed feet."
Definitions of arthropod
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invertebrate having jointed limbs and a segmented body with an exoskeleton made of chitin
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types:
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trilobite
an extinct arthropod that was abundant in Paleozoic times; had an exoskeleton divided into three parts
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arachnid, arachnoid
air-breathing arthropods characterized by simple eyes and four pairs of legs
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myriapod
general term for any terrestrial arthropod having an elongated body composed of many similar segments: e.g. centipedes and millipedes
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Scutigerella immaculata, garden centipede, garden symphilid, symphilid
minute arthropod often infesting the underground parts of truck-garden and greenhouse crops
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tardigrade
an arthropod of the division Tardigrada
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centipede
chiefly nocturnal predacious arthropod having a flattened body of 15 to 173 segments each with a pair of legs, the foremost pair being modified as prehensors
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millepede, milliped, millipede
any of numerous herbivorous nonpoisonous arthropods having a cylindrical body of 20 to 100 or more segments most with two pairs of legs
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pycnogonid, sea spider
any of various small spiderlike marine arthropods having small thin bodies and long slender legs
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Merostomata, class Merostomata
used in some classifications; includes the orders Xiphosura and Eurypterida
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Limulus polyphemus, Xiphosurus polyphemus, horseshoe crab, king crab
large marine arthropod of the Atlantic coast of North America having a domed carapace that is shaped like a horseshoe and a stiff pointed tail; a living fossil related to the wood louse
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Asian horseshoe crab
horseshoe crab of the coast of eastern Asia
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eurypterid
large extinct scorpion-like arthropod considered related to horseshoe crabs
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pentastomid, tongue worm
wormlike arthropod having two pairs of hooks at the sides of the mouth; parasitic in nasal sinuses of mammals
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crustacean
any mainly aquatic arthropod usually having a segmented body and chitinous exoskeleton
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onychophoran, peripatus, velvet worm
any of numerous velvety-skinned wormlike carnivorous animals common in tropical forests having characteristics of both arthropods and annelid worms
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insect
small air-breathing arthropod
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instar
an insect or other arthropod between molts
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Phalangium opilio, daddy longlegs, harvestman
spiderlike arachnid with a small rounded body and very long thin legs
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scorpion
arachnid of warm dry regions having a long segmented tail ending in a venomous stinger
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false scorpion, pseudoscorpion
small nonvenomous arachnid resembling a tailless scorpion
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whip scorpion, whip-scorpion
nonvenomous arachnid that resembles a scorpion and that has a long thin tail without a stinger
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spider
predatory arachnid with eight legs, two poison fangs, two feelers, and usually two silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey
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acarine
mite or tick
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Scutigera coleoptrata, house centipede
long-legged centipede common in damp places as e.g. cellars
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malacostracan crustacean
a major subclass of crustaceans
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decapod, decapod crustacean
crustaceans characteristically having five pairs of locomotor appendages each joined to a segment of the thorax
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brachyuran
typical crabs
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stomatopod, stomatopod crustacean
a kind of crustacean
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branchiopod, branchiopod crustacean, branchiopodan
aquatic crustaceans typically having a carapace and many pairs of leaflike appendages used for swimming as well as respiration and feeding
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copepod, copepod crustacean
minute marine or freshwater crustaceans usually having six pairs of limbs on the thorax; some abundant in plankton and others parasitic on fish
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mussel shrimp, ostracod, seed shrimp
tiny marine and freshwater crustaceans with a shrimp-like body enclosed in a bivalve shell
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barnacle, cirriped, cirripede
marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages; free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and live attached to submerged surfaces
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Plicatoperipatus jamaicensis
a kind of onychophoran
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social insect
an insect that lives in a colony with other insects of the same species
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ephemeral, ephemeron
anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form
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holometabola, metabola
insects that undergo complete metamorphosis
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defoliator
an insect that strips the leaves from plants
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pollinator
an insect that carries pollen from one flower to another
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gallfly
any of various insects that deposit their eggs in plants causing galls in which the larvae feed
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mecopteran
any of various carnivorous insects of the order Mecoptera
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collembolan, springtail
any of numerous minute wingless primitive insects possessing a special abdominal appendage that allows the characteristic nearly perpetual springing pattern; found in soil rich in organic debris or on the surface of snow or water
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proturan, telsontail
any of several minute primitive wingless and eyeless insects having a cone-shaped head; inhabit damp soil or decaying organic matter
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beetle
insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings
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web spinner
any of a small order of slender typically tropical insects that nest in colonies in silken tunnels that they spin
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louse, sucking louse
wingless usually flattened bloodsucking insect parasitic on warm-blooded animals
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bird louse, biting louse, louse
wingless insect with mouth parts adapted for biting; mostly parasitic on birds
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flea
any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap
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dipteran, dipteron, dipterous insect, two-winged insects
insects having usually a single pair of functional wings (anterior pair) with the posterior pair reduced to small knobbed structures and mouth parts adapted for sucking or lapping or piercing
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leaf miner, leaf-miner
any of various small moths or dipterous flies whose larvae burrow into and feed on leaf tissue especially of the family Gracilariidae
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hymenopter, hymenopteran, hymenopteron, hymenopterous insect
insects having two pairs of membranous wings and an ovipositor specialized for stinging or piercing
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worker
sterile member of a colony of social insects that forages for food and cares for the larvae
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termite, white ant
whitish soft-bodied ant-like social insect that feeds on wood
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orthopteran, orthopteron, orthopterous insect
any of various insects having leathery forewings and membranous hind wings and chewing mouthparts
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phasmid, phasmid insect
large cylindrical or flattened mostly tropical insects with long strong legs that feed on plants; walking sticks and leaf insects
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dictyopterous insect
cockroaches and mantids
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bug
general term for any insect or similar creeping or crawling invertebrate
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bug, hemipteran, hemipteron, hemipterous insect
insects with sucking mouthparts and forewings thickened and leathery at the base; usually show incomplete metamorphosis
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heteropterous insect
true bugs: insects whose forewings are membranous but have leathery tips
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homopteran, homopterous insect
insects having membranous forewings and hind wings
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psocopterous insect
small soft-bodied insect with chewing mouthparts and either no wings or two pairs
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ephemerid, ephemeropteran
short-lived insect
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plecopteran, stone fly, stonefly
primitive winged insect with a flattened body; used as bait by fishermen; aquatic gilled larvae are carnivorous and live beneath stones
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neuropteran, neuropteron, neuropterous insect
insect having biting mouthparts and four large membranous wings with netlike veins
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odonate
large primitive predatory aquatic insect having two pairs of membranous wings
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trichopteran, trichopteron, trichopterous insect
caddis fly
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thysanuran insect, thysanuron
primitive wingless insects: bristletail
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thysanopter, thysanopteron, thysanopterous insect
an insect of the order Thysanoptera
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earwig
any of numerous insects of the order Dermaptera having elongate bodies and slender many-jointed antennae and a pair of large pincers at the rear of the abdomen
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lepidopteran, lepidopteron, lepidopterous insect
insect that in the adult state has four wings more or less covered with tiny scales
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pupa
an insect in the inactive stage of development (when it is not feeding) intermediate between larva and adult
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imago
an adult insect produced after metamorphosis
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queen
the only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites; its function is to lay eggs
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type of:
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invertebrate
any animal lacking a backbone or notochord; the term is not used as a scientific classification
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘arthropod'.
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Word Family
Vocabulary lists containing arthropod
Elatsoe
Ellie, a Native American girl with supernatural powers, attempts to solve a family member's murder.
Consider the Lobster
In this essay collection, David Foster Wallace muses on everything crustaceans to Franz Kafka.
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