Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun A taxonomic
order within theclass Merostomata — distinguished from all otherchelicerates by havingcompound eyes . The only livingxiphosurans are thehorseshoe crabs .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Ancient Greek ξίφος (xiphos, "sword") and οὐρά (oura, "tail"), in reference to the long, slender, stiff tail of the horseshoe crab.
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Examples
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This extraordinary crustacean is one of the oldest of living animals in its history, as it is closely related to the Xiphosura and even the Trilobites of the Primary Epoch, which existed millions of years ago.
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Crustacea; nor the Xiphosura and Trilobites, because, having never investigated them myself, I knew too little about them, and especially because I am unacquainted with the details of the explanations given by
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Phyllopoda and Xiphosura, furnished a long and varied, and at the same time intimately connected series, such as was at my command in no other class.
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