A hard plate or spicule which may be composed of chitin or calcium carbonate; often refers to the rigid parts of the arthropod (insects, crustaceans, etc.) exoskeleton.


From the BioTech Dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/. For further information see the BioTech homenode.

Scle"rite (?), n. Zool.

A hard chitinous or calcareous process or corpuscle, especially a spicule of the Alcyonaria.

 

© Webster 1913.

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