Biol. [f. ZOO- + SPORE.] A spore having the power of spontaneous movement, occurring in certain Algæ, Fungi, and Protozoa; a motile spore, swarm-spore.
1846. Lindley, Veg. Kingd., 8. Cellular flowerless plants,… propagated by zoospores, coloured spores, or tetraspores. Ibid. (1858), Veg. Phys., § 767. For the propagation of their kind, the Confervae have two different modes; the one being the liberation of moving particles, termed zoospores, from the interior of the cells.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 821. The spores [in Protozoa] … may when they become motile be amoeboid or flagellate, and to these two states respectively the terms amoebula, or zoospore s. flagellula may be applied.
Hence Zoosporous a., producing, of the nature of, or effected by zoospores.
1846. Lindley, Veg. Kingd., 1. The spores of those Confervæ which are sometimes called Zoosporous.
1859. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., V. 212/2. Zoosporous reproduction.
