Edentata (edentata)

pl. [NL., neut. pl. of L. eden tatus, toothle : see edentate.] 1. In mammal., a Cuvierian order of mammals; the edentates. The term is literally incorrect, and in so far objectionable, few of these animals being edentulous or toothle ; and the Linnean equivalent term, Bruta, is often employed instead. But the name is firmly estab lished, and the members of the order do agree in certain dental characters, which are these: that incisors are never present, and that the teeth, when there are any, are homodont and (excepting in Tatus i in a ) monophyodont, growing from persistent pulps, and being devoid of enamel. Edentate Skull of Great Ant-eater (Myrmecophaga jubata). The Edentata are ineducabilian placental mammals, with a relatively small cerebrum of one lobe, but otherwise very diversiform in structure, appearance, and mode of life; the old-world forms are likewise widely different from those of the new world; most edentates are of the latter. The armadillos, sloths, and ant-eaters of America, and the fodient ant-eaters and scaly ant-eaters of Africa and Asia, represent respectively five leading types of Edentata, affording a division of the order into the five suborders Loric at a (armadillos), Tardigrada (sloths), Vermil in gui a (American ant-eaters), Squamata (scaly ant-eaters or pangolins), and Fodientia (digging ant-eaters or aardvarks). The tardigrades, including a number of gigantic fo il forms, as the mylodons and me gather i ums, formerly called Grav i grad a, are herbivorous, and the living forms are all arbor i cole. The others are carnivorous and chiefly insectivorous, and it is among these that the entirely toothle forms occur, as in the ant-eaters. The Cuvierian Edentata included the Monotremata, now long since eliminated. 2. A group of crustaceans. Latreille, 1826. edentate (e-den'tāt), a. and n. [F. édenté = Sp. edentado, 1842 Over 100 species are known, of which more than 40 inhabit North America; only one is found in the United States. The genus was founded by Fabric i us in 1803. Ede an (e-des'an), a . [ Ede a , Gr. "Ἔδεσ- σα , a city of Mesopota- mia, + -an .] Of or per- taining to Ede a, a city in northwestern Meso- potamia, noted as the seat of an important theological school, and as the chief center from which Nestor i an ism spread over a great part of Asia. - Ede an family or branch of liturgies, that cla of liturgies which is commonly called Nestor i an , because used by Nestor i ans. Its oldest representative is the Liturgy of the Apostles (Adæus and Maris). See liturgy . Ede a bifid a. (Line shows natural size.)