somite
[soh-mahyt]
- any of the longitudinal series of segments or parts into which the body of certain animals is divided; a metamere.
- Embryology. one member of a series of paired segments into which the thickened dorsal zone of mesoderm is divided.
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Origin of somite
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for somite
Historical Examples
But the mouth remains as an inpushing of the wall of the first somite.
Each cranial nerve is typically placed immediately behind the head-cavity of its somite.
The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume III (of 4)Francis Maitland Balfour
The simple identification of somite with somite in Limulus and Scorpio seemed to be threatened by this discovery.
In fact, more or less complete “excalation” of the somite takes place.
The appendages of the 2nd somite of the opisthosoma absent, rarely minute and bud-like (some Amblypygi), never pectiniform.
somite
- embryol any of a series of dorsal paired segments of mesoderm occurring along the notochord in vertebrate embryos. It develops into muscle and bone in the adult animal
- zoology another name for metamere
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Word Origin
C19: from Greek sōma a body
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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somite
(sō′mīt′)- A segmental mass of mesoderm in the vertebrate embryo, occurring in pairs along the notochord and developing into muscles and vertebrae.
- metamere
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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