zoonitehttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoonite_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezoonite, n.
Revised 2017

zoonitenoun

Zoology.
  1. 1838–
    A body segment of an articulated or segmented animal, esp. such a segment regarded as a distinct organism; a metamere or somite. Cf. zonite n. 2. Now historical and rare.
    1. 1838
      Each organ is a distinct, subordinate organization; a species of zoonite or inferior animal.
      S. Jackson, On Methods acquiring Knowledge 30
    2. 1861
      The Worm..is composed of segments or articulations..in each of which the same organs are regularly repeated... It may be termed a distinct series of animals... These special organisms have received the name of Zoonites (1826).
      R. T. Hulme, translation of C. H. Moquin-Tandon, Elements of Medical Zoology ii.ii. 59
    3. 1881
      Among the more important points are the total absence at all stages of the fifth thoracic zoonite and its appendages.
      Proceedings of Royal Society vol. 32 47
    4. 1910
      Behind the head are three segments, or zoonites, each bearing a pair of legs.
      N. Banks in Rat & its Relation Public Health U.S. Public Health Bull. No. 30 71
    5. 1963
      Zealous theorists..,[viewed] the annelid..as a sort of colony of segments (primary individuals, zoönites) united into a superorganism having its own..individuality.
      G. O. Mackie in E. C. Dougherty et al., Lower Metazoa xxiv. 329
    6. 1987
      In some invertebrates, he suggested, zoonites could live independently, while in others they lost their liberty through modification and more intimate association with other zoonites.
      T. A. Appel, Cuvier-Geoffroy Deb. 162

zoonite, n. was revised in June 2017.

zoonite, n. was last modified in July 2023.