plural noun
ZoologyAn order of chiefly marine crustaceans with a laterally compressed body and a large number of appendages like legs.
‘Neither Amphipoda nor Isopoda is known from the early Paleozoic when the Crustacea are generally represented in the fossil record by the valve-bearing Ostracoda.’- ‘Because of their small size, Amphipoda are able to survive in caves.’
- ‘This Colloquium hosts every aspects of Amphipoda (systematics, genetics, evolution, ecology, physiology, range extensions, etc.), both freshwater and marine.’
Origin
Modern Latin (plural), from amphi-‘of both kinds’ (because some legs are specialized for swimming and some for feeding) + Greek pous, pod- ‘foot’.
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