Also in L. form, pl. cheliceræ. [a. F. chélicère, mod.L. chelicera, f. Gr. χηλή (see CHELA1) + κέρας horn.] A term for the prehensile claws that arm the proboscis of scorpions and spiders.
Hence Cheliceral a.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., II. xv. 38. Claws … like the mandibles or cheliceres of spiders.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. v. ii. 261. Nature has provided the Spiders with two chelicers or antennæ, terminating in a pair of claws…; these constitute the poison apparatus.
1870. Nicholson, Zool., 198. In the Scorpions the mandibles are short, and terminate in strong, pincers, or ‘cheliceræ.’
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., vii. 384. Two horny hooks [are developed] from the cheliceral portion [of the proboscis].
