sb. pl. Zool. [mod.L., pl. neut. of *cœlōmatus, f. Gr. κοίλωματ -hollow, cavity: see CŒLOME. (For formation, cf. Gr. ἀσώματος, etc.)] The name given by Ray Lankester to the higher of his two subdivisions of Enterozoa (= Metazoa), including all of these that have a cœlome or body-cavity, distinct from the enteric or intestinal cavity (the other subdivision being that of the CŒLENTERATA). It comprises all the more highly developed animals, including Vermes.
1877. E. Ray Lankester, in Q. Jrnl. Micros. Sc., XVII. 441. Ibid. (1883), in Encycl. Brit., XVI. 633/1. The Cœlomata, one of the two great grades … into which the higher animals, or Enterozoa as distinguished from the Protozoa, are divided.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 333. The Coelomata include the phyla Chordata, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, together with Vermes.
