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Ciliates
Answer for the clue "Ciliates ", 8 letters:
protozoa
Alternative clues for the word protozoa
Word definitions for protozoa in dictionaries
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
adj. of or relating to the Protozoa [syn: protozoal , protozoic ] n. any of diverse minute acellular or unicellular organisms usually nonphotosynthetic [syn: protozoon ] [also: protozoa (pl)]
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Protozoon \Pro`to*zo"["o]n\ (-[o^]n), n.; pl. Protozoa . [NL.] (Zo["o]l.) One of the Protozoa. A single zooid of a compound protozoan.
Usage examples of protozoa.
Fabulously early date of evolution, preceding even simplest Archaean protozoa hitherto known, baffles all conjecture as to origin.
In their guts they harbour colonies of microscopic, one-celled protozoa, which break down the cellulose for them and make it digestible.
The largest taxonomic divisions distinguish between plants and animals, or between those organisms with poorly developed nuclei in their cells (such as bacteria and blue-green algae) and those with very clearly demarcated and elaborately architectured nuclei (such as protozoa or people).
Maybe those ciliated protozoa that had a variant genetic code were descended from some cilia who had been in symbiosis with other cells in the past, developing genetic-code variations for the same safety-net reasons mitochondria had but, unlike the cilia we still retained, had subsequently broken off the symbiosis and returned to stand-alone life.
Into this category I would place many of the protozoa in our alimentary canals.
Because they are born without these protozoa in their intestines, they must acquire them by eating each other's faecal matter.