zoospore Biol.
(ˈzəʊəʊspɔə(r))
[f. zoo- + spore.]
A spore having the power of spontaneous movement, occurring in certain Algæ, Fungi, and Protozoa; a motile spore, swarm-spore.
| 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 8 Cellular flowerless plants,..propagated by zoospores, coloured spores, or tetraspores. 1858 ― Veg. Phys. §767 For the propagation of their kind,..the Confervae have two different modes; the one being the liberation of moving particles, termed zoospores, from the interior of the cells. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 821 The spores [in Protozoa]..may when they become motile be amoeboid or flagellate, and to these two states respectively the terms amoebula, or zoospore s. flagellula may be applied. |
Hence zoosporous (zəʊˈɒspərəs) a., producing, of the nature of, or effected by zoospores.
| 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 1 The spores of those Confervæ which are sometimes called Zoosporous. 1859 Todd's Cycl. Anat. V. 212/2 Zoosporous reproduction. |
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Add: zooˈsporic a.
| 1890 Webster, Zoosporic. 1895 R. Thaxter in Bot. Gaz. XX. 480 It is quite uncertain..whether these spores are really connected with the zoosporic form which they accompany. 1942 J. S. Karling Simple Holocarpic Biflagellate Phycomycetes 102 These fungi constitute an ascending evolutionary line originating in the zoosporic Monadineae and culminating in the Peronosporales. 1990 Margulis & Corliss Handbk. Protoctista 380 The first observations of ‘zoosporic fungi’ having motile cells with a single, anterior flagellum were made in 1884. |