tetraclade, a. Zool.
(ˈtɛtrəkleɪd)
[f. tetra- + Gr. κλάδ-ος shoot, sprout.]
Branching in four; having four arms or rays. So tetracladine (-ˈkleɪdaɪn) a., of or pertaining to the Tetraclādina, a suborder of lithistid sponges having spicules branching into four or more processes; also tetracladose (-ˈkleɪdəʊs) a. in same sense.
| 1881 P. M. Duncan in Jrnl. Linn. Soc. XV. No. 86. 324 The quadrifid or tetraclade spicula. 1887 Sollas in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 417/1 (Sponges) Some or all of the rays of the primitive calthrops..may bifurcate once or twice and finally terminate by subdividing into numerous variously shaped processes; such a tetracladine desma characterizes one division of the Lithistid sponges. Ibid. 422/1 A distinct passage can be traced from the Tetracladose to the Rhabdocrepid group. Ibid., The scleroblast..in the Tetracladine Lithistids lies in an angle between the arms. |