Zool. [f. Gr. σῶμα body, SOMA2 + -ITE.] One or other of the more or less distinct segments into which the bodies of many animals are divided.
1869. Huxley, Introd. Classif. Anim. 77. The head of a Crustacean, an Arachnid, a Myriapod, or an Insect is composed of six somites.
1875. C. C. Blake, Zool., 281. The number of segments or somites in the body of insects never exceeds twenty.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 142. The abdomen … is made up of a number of distinct segments or somites.
