mes·o·zo·an

(mĕz′ə-zō′ən, mĕs′-)

Any of various small wormlike animals that are parasites of marine invertebrates and have an inner layer of one or more cells surrounded by an outer layer of ciliated cells.

[From New Latin Mesozōa, former phylum name : meso- (because the animals were considered to be intermediate between the protozoans and the metazoans in structure) + -zōa, pl. of -zōon, animal; see -zoon.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mesozoan

(ˌmɛsəʊˈzəʊən)

(Animals) any of several wormlike parasites of the group Mesozoa that live in marine vertebrates

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

References in periodicals archive

Sexually mature individuals with cell numbers below this threshold have so far been reported only from secondarily simplified, commensal, or parasitic species with very simple bodyplans, such as the mesozoan dicyemids, which live in the kidneys of benthic cephalopods and consist of only 10 to 40 cells (4).

Cycliophoran dwarf males break the rule: high complexity with low cell numbers

The phylogenetic position of dicyemid mesozoans offers insights into spiralian evolution.

A New Species of Orthonectida That Parasitizes Xenoturbella bocki: Implications for Studies on Xenoturbella

Syncytia, while uncommon among vertebrates, do occur in a variety of animals including flatworms, mesozoans, and insects (Barnes, 1980).

The developmental role of the extracellular matrix suggests a monophyletic origin of the kingdom Animalia

Patterns of cell division and cell lineages of the vermiform embryos of dicyemid mesozoans were studied in four species belonging to four genera: Conocyema polymorpha, Dicyema apalachiensis, Microcyema vespa, and Pseudicyema nakaoi.

Developmental patterns and cell lineages of vermiform embryos in dicyemid mesozoans

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