Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Primordial or first-formed animals, or cell-animals; protozoans: a subkingdom of Animalia or prime division of animals, contrasted with Metazoa, or all other animals collectively. The Protozoa are animal organisms consisting of a single cell or of several cells not differentiated into tissues. This is the essential distinction between protozoan and metazoan animals, though no hard and fast line can be drawn around Protozoa to distinguish them on the one hand from
Protophyta , and on the, other fromMetazoa . The name Protozoa was first used by Goldfuss (1809) to include microscopic animals and also the polyps and medusæ. Siebold and Stannius first used ii in its modern signification as comprising and limited to the infusorians and rhizopods. Owen (1859) used the term Protozoa for a kingdom including diatoms, etc., and therefore synonymous with Pretista. The sponges, in the view (as held by W. Seville Kent, for example) that they consist essentially of an aggregate of choano-flagellate infusorians, are often brought under Protozoa, though they have not only an ectoderm and an endoderm, but also a mesoderm, and are therefore, tissue-animals as distinguished from cell-animals. Excluding sponges, Protozoa may be characterized as animals composed of a simple nearly structureless jelly-like substance calledsarcode , a kind of protoplasm, devoid of permanent distinction or separation of parts resulting from tissue-formation or histogenesis (though they may have very evident organs as parts of a single cell), without a permanent definitive body-cavity or any trace of a nervous system, no permanent differentiated alimentary system except in a most rudimentary slate, and no multicellular membranes or tissues. Nevertheless, there is really a wide range of variation orgradation of structure in these, seemingly structureless animalcules. Some of the lowest forms are mere microscopic specks of homogeneous sarcode, of any or no definite shape. Such are moners, or representatives of a division Monera or Proteomyxa; but it is not certain that all such objects are either individuals or species in a usual sense of these words. Among the lowest protozoans of which species and genera can be definitely predicated are the amœbiform organisms, which have a nucleus, and locomotory organs in the form of pseudopods, temporarily protruded from any part of the body, and which ingest and egest foreign substance from any part of the body. Vast numbers of protozoans are of this grade of complexity, and with the simpler forms constitute a class, Rhizopoda, including the normal amæboids and the foraminifers and radiolarians. For, though both these latter may have very complicated shells, tests, or skeletons, their sarcodous substance remains of a low and simple type. It is an advance in organization when a protozoan becomes corticate — that is, assumes a form in which an outer harder ectoplasm and an inner softer endoplasm are distinguishable — since this confines the sarcodous mass and gives it definite shape or form. This advance in organization is often marked by the appearance of a nucleolus or endoplastule, besides the nucleus or endoplast which most protozoans possess, by the presence of definite and permanent locomotory organs in the form of cilia or flagella, and finally by the fixation of a specialized oral oringestive area or mouth, in place of the one or several temporary vacuoles which serve as stomachs in lower forms. Protozoans of this higher grade occur under various forms. The class Gregarinida represents parasitic forms, one- or two-celled, essentially like the ova of Metazoa. The class Infusoria comprehends an enormous number of minute, nearly always microscopic, animalcules, found in infusions, inhabiting both fresh and salt water, sometimes parasitic, but mostly leading an independent fixed or free life. There are many groups of these, as the ciliate, flagellate, choanofiagellate, and suctorial infusorians, among them the most complex organisms which are commonly included under Protozoa, as the Noctiluca, for example. With or without some of the lowest disputed forms, and with or without the sponges, Protozoa have been very variously subdivided, almost every author having his own arrangement. A so-called moner, an amœba, a foraminifer, a radiolarian, a gregarine, and an infusorian respectively exemplify as many leading types of Protozoa. One division is into Automata and Stomatoda, according to the absence or presence of a mouth. Another is into Monera and Endoplastica, according to the absence or presence of a nucleus, the latter being again distinguished as Myxopoda and Mastigopoda, according to whether the locomotory organs are temporary pseudopods or permanent cilia or flagella. A third is into Gymnomyxa and Corticata, according to the absence or presence of a distinguishable ectoplasm.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) The lowest of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom.
WordNet 3.0
- n. in some classifications considered a superphylum or a subkingdom; comprises flagellates; ciliates; sporozoans; amoebas; foraminifers.
Examples
“In other words, the existence of H1 in protozoa may best be explained by the existence of H1 in metazoans.”
“If H1 was indeed designed, given its minimal role in protozoa, it might constitute a very good example of front-loading evolution such that the initial eukaryotic state was prepared to evolve a multicellular state.”
“Living alongside bacteria—in water, soil, and bodies—were much larger but still microscopic single-celled organisms known as protozoa.”
“The protozoa are the most widely distributed and the most universal of the parasites.”
“There are some diseases, as, for instance, Texas fever and rabies, which are caused by a minute animal parasite known as protozoa, while others again, like lumpy jaw and aspergillosis, are caused by fungi.”
“The cells of almost all eukaryotes (animals, plants, fungi, algae, protozoa -- in other words, the living things except bacteria, archaea, and a few protists) contain intracellular organelles called mitochondria, which produce ATP.”
WN.com - Articles related to Scientists uncover mysterious workings of cholera bacteria
“Infectious agents (such as protozoa, bacteria and viruses) and their associated vector organisms (such as mosquitoes, ticks and sandflies) are devoid of thermostatic mechanisms, and reproduction and survival rates are thus strongly affected by fluctuations in temperature.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » British High Court decision on “An Inconvenient Truth”:
“In the 1950s, the Foraminifera, along with other microscopic organisms "protozoa", were considered to be animals.”
“The size of such organisms, such as protozoa, bacteria and viruses, range within a few micrometers (1 mm is a thousandth of a millimetre) or even less.”
1. Historical development and experience with water treatment
“At the same time, microbial predators such as protozoa tend to dampen the efficiency of would-be oil-eating microbes.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘protozoa’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words starting with PRO
I've noticed many, many words start with PRO and this is just a collection of them.
professional, pronunciation, Prolagus, probable, prog, proximity, profit, procrastincate, prom, pronoun, promise, proactive and 206 more...
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imogen's Words
coagitate, cloche, harum-scarum, foxglove, cryptolect, cant, roux, angora, duff, ulysse, schadenfreude, pepperpot and 315 more...
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Faintheart's Words
onomatopoeia, no, terrafactive, word, faint, heart, joy, quixotic, karla, half, amp, tardis and 181 more...
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Nick Yeow’s Words
Recently learned words that I like.
pharmaceutical, bowdlerise, connoisseur, cognoscenti, ostracise, aforementioned, antepenultimate, concatenate, extraterrestrial, psychiatrist, firmament, gastronomical and 100 more...
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Not Dinosaurs
A temporary place to store all those annoying prehistoric animals that refuse to correlate to my manner of (dis)organization. Gah!
See also "Words of Dinosaurology," "Dinosaurs," "Pter...deltasaurus, champsosaur, discosauriscus, diplocaulus, dunkleosteus, dimetrodon, dragonfly, echinoderm, edaphosaurus, eosuchian, eotitanosuchid, equisetum and 185 more...
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spamdad's Words
lambic, weizenbock, bock, zymurgy, vade mecum, quotidian, sesquipedalian, eremite, sphragis, privation, aegis, sui generis and 275 more...
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lilliput
ladybug, papermite, silverfish, mote, miniscule, micro, protozoa, fragment, ion, proton, neutrino, neutron and 18 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for protozoa.

vanishedone I can't find dictionary support for the singular tag... Mar 27, 2009