Bot. [mod. f. L. anthēra + ZOOID (f. Gr. ζωοειδής like an animal).] One of the minute moving bodies in the antheridia of cryptogams, analogous to the spermatozoa of animals.
1854. Balfour, Bot., 272. In antheridia there have been detected cells containing moving filaments, Phytozoa, or Spermatozoids or Antherozoids.
1871. Darwin, Desc. Man, I. viii. 274. The locomotive power of the antherozooids.
1875. trans. Sachs’ Bot., 336. Antherozoids are … spirally coiled threads usually with a number of fine cilia on the anterior coils.
