trichoplax
(ˈtrɪkəʊplæks)
[mod.L. (F. E. Schulze 1883, in Zool. Anzeiger VI. 92), f. tricho-2 + Gr. πλάξ plate.]
A minute marine animal with a body formed of three layers of cells, formerly included in the genus of this name but now usually considered to be a modified form of a hydrozoan planula.
| 1897 Parker & Haswell Text-bk. Zool. I. iv. 220 Trichoplax is a compressed plate-like body of irregular and extremely variable shape, but circular in the resting condition. 1940 L. H. Hyman Invertebrates iv. 243 Trichoplax and Tetroplax were found actually to be modified planulae of Hydroidea. |