Zool. [f. mod.L. chilopoda sb. pl. (also used as Eng.), f. Gr. χεῖλος lip + πούς, ποδ-ός foot. In mod.F. chilopode.]
A member of the Chilopoda, an order of Myriapoda, having segmented bodies, and two anterior pairs of legs converted into foot-jaws. The order contains the Centipedes proper.
1837. Penny Cycl., VII. 67/1. Chilopoda … are carnivorous, and crawl about by night…. They conceal themselves under stones and fallen trees, and are all found in rotten wood.
Hence Chilopodan a. and sb. as prec. Chilopodiform a., having the form of a centipede: applied to coleopterous larvæ, which are sub-hexapod, with a long, linear, depressed body. Chilopodimorphous a. = prec. Chilopodous a., of the nature of the Chilopoda.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., II. xvi. 66. Chilopodans or Centipedes. Ibid. (1828), Entomol., III. xxix. 166. Those [larvæ] of the Gyronectima being the most perfect chilopodimorphous of the whole.
1839–47. Todd, Cycl. Anat., III. 551/1. In the Chilopodous genera.
