Agnatha

See also: agnatha

Translingual

Hagfishes have spinal columns and skulls like the gnathostomes, but are jawless, with rounded mouthparts, adapted to rasping and sucking

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “without”) + γνάθος (gnáthos, “jaw”).

Proper noun

Agnatha

1. Jawless fishes, that, like scaly fishes, reptiles, and mammals, have backbones and skulls but do not have paired jaws like humans or sharks, instead having round mouthparts that fasten onto their prey and rasp away bits that they ingest.
   1. A taxonomic superclass within the subphylum Chordata.
      • 1889, Edward Drinker Cope, “Synopsis of the Families of Vertebrata”, in The American Naturalist, volume 23 (in English), page 852:

        The known members of the class Agnatha are a very small representation of those that once existed; and they present a great variety of character, having little affinity with each other.

      • 2007, Chad Thomas et al., Freshwater Fishes of Texas (in English), Texas A&M University Press, page 6:

        Current classification schemes have living fishes assigned to two superclasses (Agnatha, or jawless chordates, and Gnathostomata, or jawed chordates)[…].

   2. A taxonomic infraphylum within the subphylum Chordata.

Synonyms

• agnathans

Hypernyms

• (superclass): Eukaryota – superkingdom; Animalia – kingdom; Bilateria – subkingdom; Deuterostomia – infrakingdom; Chordata – phylum; Chordata Craniata – clade
• (infraphylum): Eukaryota – superkingdom; Animalia – kingdom; Bilateria – subkingdom; Deuterostomia – infrakingdom; Chordata – phylum; Vertebrata – subphylum

Hyponyms

• (subphylum): Myxini, †Cephalaspidomorphi, †Pteraspidomorphi – classes
• (infraphylum): Cyclostomata

Coordinate terms

• Gnathostomata

Descendants

• agnatha
• agnathan

See also

• Ostracodermi

References

• Agnatha on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Agnatha on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Agnatha on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Hyperotreti at the Tree of Life Web Project
• Agnatha at Paleobiology Database