sb. pl. Zool. Also cœlentera. [mod.L., f. Gr. κοῖλ-ος hollow + ἔντερ-ον intestine + -āta, pl. neut. of -ātus, -ATE.]
1. One of the primary groups into which Leuckart, followed by others, divided the Animal Kingdom. As constituted by him, the group contains animals possessing a digestive cavity with which a peripheral system of canals frequently communicates, with prehensile organs disposed in a circle round the mouth, and all, or nearly all, provided with thread-cells or nematocysts: divided into Ctenophora, Actinozoa (corals, sea-anemones) and Hydrozoa.
1872. H. Spencer, Princ. Psychol., I. I. ii. 6. Where there is extremely little power of generating motion, as among … the inferior Cœlenterata, there is no nervous system.
1878. Bell, Gegenbaur’s Comp. Anat., 79. They call to mind the stinging cells of the Cœlenterata.
2. In later classifications the lower of the two subdivisions of the Metazoa, distinguished from the CŒLOMATA by having an intestinal canal but no body-cavity or cœlome. In addition to the preceding, the Porifera or Sponges are placed in it.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Animal Life, 712.
