Lexic.us

Definition of Limulus polyphemus

1. Noun. Large marine arthropod of the Atlantic coast of North America having a domed carapace that is shaped like a horseshoe and a stiff pointed tail; a living fossil related to the wood louse.

Medical Definition of Limulus polyphemus

1. Now renamed Xiphosura, though Limulus is still in common usage as a name. The king crab or horseshoe crab, found on the Atlantic coast of North America. It is more closely related to the arachnids than the crustacea and horseshoe crabs are the only surviving representatives of the subclass Xiphosura. Its compound eyes have been widely used in studies on visual systems, but it is probably better known from the Limulus amoebocyte lysate LAL) test, LAL is very sensitive to small amounts of endotoxin, clotting rapidly to form a gel and the test is used clinically to test for septicaemia. (04 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Limulus Polyphemus

Literary usage of Limulus polyphemus

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge by Charles Knight (1843)
"Limulus polyphemus.—Description.—Céphalo-thon« buckler more convex than in the preceding species, ai preserving for a longer period the seven spines ..."

2. Text-book of the Embryology of Invertebrates by Eugen Korschelt, Karl Heider, Edward Laurens Mark, William McMichael Woodworth, Matilda Bernard, Martin Fountain Woodward (1899)
"PACKARD, AS The Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology of Limulus polyphemus. ... PACKARD, AS Further studies on the brain of Limulus polyphemus. Zool. ..."

3. Journal of Morphology by Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology (1892)
"'71 PACKARD, AS On the Embryology of Limulus polyphemus. Proc. Am. Assoc. ... '72 PACKARD, AS The Development of Limulus polyphemus. Mem. Bost. Soc. NH, ii. ..."

4. A Monograph of the British Fossil Crustacea, Belonging to the Order Merostomata by Henry Woodward (1878)
"3 " Zur Embryologie und Morphologic des Limulus polyphemus,-" von Dr. Anton Dohrn (' Jenaische ... "The Development of Limulus polyphemus," by AS Packard, ..."

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