zoo-, zoa-, zo-, -zoic, -zoid, -zoite, -zoal, -zonal, -zooid, -zoon, -zoa, -zoan

Pertaining to the Malacozoa or soft-bodied animals: Molacozoic organisms form an extensive group of invertebrates consisting of the Bryozoa, Mollusca, and Brachiopoda. e.g. the Mollusca.

The Mollusca is Huxley's term for the series of animals from the lowest Polyzoa to the highest molluscs.

The study of molluscs: Malacozoology is the science of soft-bodied invertebrate animals, normally with a hard shell consisting of one or more parts.

A reference to zoology and its connection to medicine: Since Simon was very interested in medicine and its relevance to zoology, he decided to take a medicozoological course as part of his studies at medical school.

A comparatively large stalked organism, normally vegetative, of specific ciliates: A megazooid can be a Vorticella with bell-shaped ciliates.

Any protozoan cell produced by the fission of a schizont, e.g. that of the malaria protozoan: The cell of the merozoite develops in a stage in the life cycle of the malaria parasite (Plasmodium) which is formed during the asexual division of the schizont (a cell formed during the asexual phase of the life cycle of some single-celled organisms).

Merozoites are released and invade other cells.

The phylum of invertebrates comprising the mesozoans: The Mesozoa include the parasitic wormlike multicellular organisms sometimes considered to be intermediate in complexity between protozoans and metazoans.

The Mesozoa constitute the small phylum of ciliated worms, which are endoparasitic in marine invertebrates.

The small phylum of ciliated, multicellular animals are found as endoparasites (parasites living in the internal organs of animals) in various marine invertebrates.

They are characterized by having a solid, two-layered body lacking skeletal, muscular, nervous, digestive, and excretory elements.

They are all obligate parasites and their simple organization may be secondary, a result of parasitic adaptation and they are found on both sides of the Atlantic, and on the west coast of America.

The geologic era between the Paleozoic and the Cenozoic eras: The Mesozoic is the second of the earth's three major geologic eras of Phanerozoic time and the interval during which the continental landmasses as known today were separated from the supercontinents "Laurasia" (North America and Eurasia) and "Gondwana" by the continental drift.

The Mesozoic is divided into three time periods: the Triassic (245-208 Million Years Ago), the Jurassic (208-146 Million Years Ago), and the Cretaceous (146-65 Million Years Ago).

The Mesozoic occurred before the Cenozoic and after the Palaeozoic periods and was marked by the development of the ancestors of the major plant and animal groups that exist today and the extinction of the dinosaur that suddenly occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Mesozoic means "middle animals", and is the time during which the world fauna changed drastically from that which had been seen in the Paleozoic.

Dinosaurs, which are perhaps the most popular organisms of the Mesozoic, evolved in the Triassic, but were not very diverse until the Jurassic. Except for birds, dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period. Some of the last dinosaurs to have lived are found in the late Cretaceous deposits of Montana in the United States.

The Mesozoic was also a time of great change with terrestrial vegetation. The early Mesozoic was dominated by ferns, cycads, ginkgophytes, bennettitaleans, and other unusual plants. Modern gymnosperms, such as conifers, first appeared in their current recognizable forms in the early Triassic.

By the middle of the Cretaceous period, the earliest angiosperms had appeared and began to diversify, largely taking over from the other plant groups.

A marine parasite of the phylum Mesozoa: A mesozooid is a kind of bryozoan heterozooid that makes slim and narrow tubes called "mesozoopecia" or "mesopores" which are subdivided internally by various tightly spaced diaphragms that reveal minute polygonal openings.

A major group of animals classified as the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa: In general the Metazoa, considered collectively, are multicellular, capable of locomotion, responsive to their environment, and feed by consuming other organisms.

A multicellular animal: All metazoans, except for sponges and protozoans, are characterised by having many cells which are specialized and arranged in tissues and organs.

A microscopic animal: Especially protozoa are known to be microzoa, minuscule organisms.

In biology, relating to vegetation being pollinated by small animals: Since male wasps fertilize orchids, they can be considered to be microzoophilous creatures!

Referring to a single central capsule in an organism: A tapeworm can be regarded as being monozoic with only one proglottid in which the body is not divided into proglottids (one of the segments of a tapeworm containing both male and female reproductive organs).

An order of rhizopod protozoans that includes the slime molds when they are regarded as animals: The Mycetozoa is the designation for slime molds that show both animal and plant characteristics during their life span. The slime molds are peculiar protists that normally take the form of amoebae, but under certain conditions develop fruiting bodies that release spores, superficially similar to the sporangia of fungi.

They should not be confused with true molds, which are actually fungi. Although cosmopolitan in distribution, they are usually small and rarely noticed. There are several different groups.

In invertebrate zoology, a dwarf zooid; a bryozoan heterozooid that has only one tentacle: Nanozooids belong to the "bryozoan" that are members of the phylum Bryozoa, the moss animals, which is a phylum of minute, mosslike marine and freshwater creatures with distinct alimentary canals that form permanent colonies and reproduce by budding.