discostomata

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In Saville Kent's classification, one of four classes of Protozoa, containing the sponges and collarbearing monads, or Spongida and Choanoflagellata. so called from the characteristic discoidal configuration of the introceptive area: contrasted with Pantostomata, Eustomata, and Polystomata. It is divided by this author into two sections: the Discostomata gymnozoida, which are the ordinary collar-bearing monads or Choanoflagellata of most authors; and the Discostomata cryptozoida, which are the sponges or Spongida. The term Discostomata sarcocrypta is an alternative designation of the latter, perhaps by an oversight.