sclerodermites

Noun

sclerodermite (plural sclerodermites)

1. The hard integument of crustaceans.
   • In fact each zoonite in turn is formed of several distinct parts or sclerodermites, which also, by welding together, produce arrests of development and atrophied members.1894, M. Berthelot, “Biographical Sketch of Henry Milne Edwards”, in Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, page 721

   Synonyms:

   sclerenchyma

2. A calcareous support structure, such as that produced by the corals in the Scleractinia order, by sclerosponges, and by some sea cucumbers.
   • The most recent study has been made by Hayasi (78), who finds that the calcareous lamellae which form the sclerodermites are formed by secretions of the calicoblasts and that the latter are not themselves calcified.1943, Thomas Wayland Vaughan, John West Wells, Revision of the Suborders Families, and Genera of the Scleractinia, page 32