entoproct

[en-tuh-prokt]

noun

Zoology.

1. any of various sessile, chiefly marine, mosslike animals of the phylum Entoprocta (formerly a subphylum of Bryophyta), occasionally solitary polyps but usually forming branching colonies, each individual polyp having an almost closed ring of tentacles within which lie the mouth and anus.

adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the phylum Entoprocta.

Word History and Origins

Origin of entoproct¹

First recorded in 1935–40; Entoprocta

Example Sentences

However this reinterpretation of Cotyledion tylodes as an entoproct places the fossil record of this group in the earlier Cambrian period.

Read more on BBC