Zool. rare. [ad. F. zoonite (Dugès) or mod.L. zōonitum, irreg. f. Gr. ζῴον animal: see -ITE1.] = ZOOID; spec. each of the segments of an articulated animal regarded as distinct organisms; a somite. Also attrib. or as adj. = articulated, segmented. Hence Zoonitic a., pertaining to or composed of ‘zoonites’ or segments.
1860. Cornh. Mag., I. 203, note. We may adopt Huxley’s suggestion, and call all such individual parts zöoids, instead of animals. Dugès suggested zöonites in the same sense.
1860. Laycock, Mind & Brain, II. Contents, p. ix. Zoonitic Constitution of Vermes.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. II. 59. The Worm … is composed of segments or articulations in each of which the same organs are regularly repeated…. It may be termed a distinct series of animals…. These special organisms have received the name of Zoonites (1826). Ibid., 60. Three sub-kingdoms: I. The Isolated animals; II. Zoonite animals; III. The Associated animals.
