Chelicerous (Adjective)
Meaning
Having chelicerae.
Classification
Relational adjectives (pertainyms).
Examples
- Spiders and scorpions are both chelicerous arachnids, possessing chelicerae that they use to capture and inject venom into their prey.
- The horseshoe crab's chelicerous mouthparts are relatively simple, consisting of a pair of appendages used for feeding and grasping.
- As a chelicerous arthropod, the tick's mouthparts are designed for piercing and sucking, allowing it to feed on the blood of its host.
- The fossil record shows that many ancient chelicerous arachnids had highly specialized mouthparts, adapted to their specific feeding habits.
- Some scientists have proposed that the common ancestor of all chelicerous arachnids was a small, predatory animal that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.