meiobenthos
(ˌmaɪəʊˈbɛnθɒs)
[f. Gr. µέιων smaller + benthos.]
The section of the benthos that includes animals neither small enough to be grouped with the microfauna nor large enough to be grouped with the macrofauna. So ˌmeioˈbenthic.
| 1942 M. F. Mare in Jrnl. Marine Biol. Assoc. XXV. 519 A new terminology is needed, and these groups are here designated the macrobenthos, meiobenthos, and microbenthos. The macrobenthos is equivalent to the macrofauna of the bottom... The meiobenthos here comprises the fauna of intermediate size, such as small crustacea (copepods, cumaceans, etc.) small polychaetes and lamellibranchs, nematodes and foraminifera. The microbenthos comprises all the small organisms. 1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 522 The number of individuals given by Kiseleva has the great merit of taking into account the meiobenthos. 1969 Nature 15 Nov. 720/2 Nematodes are among the commonest meiobenthic animals. 1971 Ibid. 28 May 260/1 (heading) Deficiency of gravity corers for sampling meiobenthos and sediments. 1973 Ibid. 30 Mar. 324/1 Where hydrodynamic conditions and bottom configuration are so subdued that meiobenthic bioturbation becomes a locally prominent sedimentological process. |