— This glossary was compiled and edited by volunteer scientists from multiple scientific disciplines using reputable sources, including the references listed at the bottom of this page. If you don’t find the scientific word, term, or expression you are looking for, let us know in the comment section below, and we will research the word for you, and add it to the glossary. We desperately need editors to flesh this glossary out. If you are interested, please contact jerry.cates@entomobiotics.com:
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- palp (= palpus = pedipalp): spider anatomy — the anterior-most leg-like appendage.
- palpal organ (see bulb)
- palpus (see palp)
- paraphyletic (PARE-uh-fuh-let-ik): Gr. παρα- “para-” = alongside of, beside, near, to, beyond, passing by, together, at once + Gr. φυλον “phylon” = a kind, class, race, people, nation; 1. genetics: contrasted with monophletic (q.v.); a group of taxa that consists of all of the descendants of a possibly hypothetical closest common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups (most usually one). A paraphyletic group is thus ‘nearly’ monophyletic (consistent with the meaning of the prefix ‘para’, namely ‘near’ or ‘alongside’.)
- pedipalp (PEHD-ee-pahlp) — see palp.
- phylogeny (fi-LODGE-un-ee) — Gr. φυλον “phylon” = a kind, class, race, people, nation + Gr. γενεσις “genesis” = producing; 1 genetics: the evolutionary development of any species of organism. Compare: ontogeny (q.v.).
- phylogenetic (FI-loh-jeh-NET-ik) — Gr. φυλον “phylon” = a kind, class, race, people, nation + Gr. γενετης “genets” = ancestor, begetter, father; 1. genetics: the development or evolution of a particular group of organisms, i.e., the evolutionary history of a group of organisms, especially as depicted in a family tree.
- polyphyletic (POH-lee-fuh-LET-ik): Gr. πολυς- “poly-” = much, many, very, often + Gr. φυλον “phylon” = a kind, class, race, people, nation; 1. taxonomics — contrasted with monophyletic (q.v.); a group of taxa based on convergence that excludes the common ancestor.
- pseudocoelomate (SUE-doh-coh-EHL-oh-mahyt): Gr. ψευδης- “pseudes” = false, lying, untrue + -κοιλωμα- “coeloma” = a hollow, a cavity + the Latin suffix -ate, designating “one acted upon”, thus any animal with an apparent, but false, body cavity: 1. Zoology — any invertebrate with a three-layered body and a pseudocoel, or false cavity, as distinguished from invertebrates with true cavities, or coeloms; in the pseudocoelomates, the coelom was lost or reduced when non-lethal mutations occurred in genes affecting their early development
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Abbreviations:
anat. = anatomy; arach. = arachnid; behav. = behavioral; biol. = biological (inclusive of all animals and plants); bot. = botanical (inclusive of all plants); Gr. = Greek; L. = Latin; q.v. = L. quod vide = which see; pl. = plural; taxon. = taxonomy; zool. = zoological (inclusive of all animals).
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References:
Allaby, Michael, Ed. 1991. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Zoology. Oxford Press.
Beccaloni, Jan. 2009. Arachnids; Glossary, p. 319. University of California Press, p. 56.
Gertsch, Willis J., 1979. American Spiders, 2nd Edition: Glossary, pp. 255-260. Von Nostrand Reinhold Company.
Howell, W. Mike, and Ronald L. Jenkins. 2004. Spiders of the Eastern United States; Glossary, Chapter X, pp. 341-348. Pearson Education.
Jackman, John A. 1997. A Field Guide to Spiders & Scorpions of Texas: Glossary pp. 173-177. Texas Monthly.
Kaston, B. J. 1978. How to know the spiders: Index and Pictured Glossary, pp. 267-272. McGraw Hill Company.
Preston-Mafham, Rod. 1996. The Book of Spiders and Scorpions; Glossary, pp. 140-141. Barnes & Noble Books, New York.
Ubick, D., P. Paquin, P.E. Cushing and V. Roth, editors, 2005. Spiders of North America, Chapter 72: Glossary — pronunciation guide. Published by the American Arachnological Society.
Venes, Donald, Ed. 2009. Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 21st Ed. F.A. Davis Company, Philadelphia.
Williams, Tim. 2005. A Dictionary of the Roots and Combining Forms of Scientific Words. Squirrox Press, Norfolk, England.
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