Term: Metazoans (misspelling of Metazoa)
Literally meaning: “after animals”
Origin: Anc Greek
μετά/meta(after, next to)
ζώα/zoa(=plural of “ζώον”/zoon=a live thing, animal)
Coined/History
The term was coined as in Protozoa the Precursors of Metazoa.
Definition
(zoology): Metazoans is the clade, or subkingdom of all multicellular animals which are characterised by having cells differentiated into tissues and organs. All animals except for sponges and placozoa (marine invertebrates) are classified as metazoans. Although the term "Eumetazoans" is most frequently used for this group of organisms, in general the term "Metazoans" is used to describe the kingdom of Animalia as a whole.
Actually, sponges are considered metazoans, but not eumetazoans.
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