Branchiopoda

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In Latreille's system of classification, the first order of his Entomostraca, characterized as having a mouth composed of an upper lip, two mandibles, a tongue, and one or two pairs of maxillæ, and the branchiæ more or less anterior: so called because their branchiæ or gills are situated on the feet. The order thus defined was divided into two section: Lophyropoda (Carcinoida, Ostracoda, and Cladocera);
2. As defined by Huxley, a group of entomostracous Crustacea, embracing only the two groups Phyllopoda and Cladocera. It is represented by such genera as Apus, Nebalia, Branchipus, Limnetis, Daphnia, and their allies, which pass into one another so gradually that the groups Phyllopoda and Cladocera can hardly be established. The genera named conform to the definition of Entomostraca (which see) in invariably possessing more or fewer than twenty somites; and the thoracic and abdominal appendages are nearly always more or less foliaceous, resembling in many respects the anterior maxilliped of one of the higher Crustacea. See cuts under Apus, Daphnia, and Limnetis.
3. n. An order of entomos-tracous crustaceans containing the Phyllocarida, Phyllopoda, Cladocera, and Branchiura.

Wiktionary

1. n. A taxonomic class within the subphylum Crustacea — any shrimps.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) An order of Entomostraca; -- so named from the feet of branchiopods having been supposed to perform the function of gills. It includes the fresh-water genera Branchipus, Apus, and Limnadia, and the genus Artemia found in salt lakes. It is also called Phyllopoda. See phyllopoda, cladocera. It is sometimes used in a broader sense.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. primitive aquatic mainly freshwater crustaceans: fairy shrimps; brine shrimps; tadpole shrimps; can shrimps; water fleas