radiolarian
any minute, marine protozoan of the class Radiolaria, or, in some classification schemes, the superclass Actinopoda, having an amebalike body with radiating, filamentous pseudopodia and a usually elaborate outer skeleton.
Origin of radiolarian
1Words Nearby radiolarian
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use radiolarian in a sentence
In the Kapoewas district radiolarian cherts supposed to be of Jurassic age are met with.
True pigment-cells, belonging to the radiolarian organism, do not occur within the central capsule.
Hence it may be supposed that a large part of the red clay consists of decomposed radiolarian ooze.
The whole number of radiolarian genera distinguished in that first system was forty-four.
To him a radiolarian, or any other creature, is of interest, not so much on its own account as for its associations.
A History of Science, Volume 5(of 5) | Henry Smith Williams
British Dictionary definitions for radiolarian
/ (ˌreɪdɪəʊˈlɛərɪən) /
any of various marine protozoans constituting the order Radiolaria, typically having a siliceous shell and stiff radiating cytoplasmic projections: phylum Actinopoda (actinopods)
Origin of radiolarian
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for radiolarian
[ rā′dē-ō-lâr′ē-ən ]
Any of various marine protozoans of the group Radiolaria, having rigid skeletons usually made of silica. The skeletons are usually spherically symmetrical and structurally complex, containing elaborate patterns of perforations (through which pseudopods extend) and often spicules. Skeletal remains of radiolarians sink to form ooze on the ocean floor, and prehistoric radiolarian ooze has fossilized to become chert and flint.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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