animalcule

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Animalcule ("little animal", from Latin animal + the diminutive suffix -culum) is an older term for a microscopic animal or protozoan. Some better-known animalcules include:

• Actinophryies, and other heliozoa, called sun animalcules
• Amoeba, called proteus animal cortical
• Noctiluca scintillans, commonly called the 'Sea Sparkles'
• Paramecium, called slipper animalcules
• Rotifers, called wheel animalcules
• Stentor, called trumpet animalcules
• Vorticella, and other peritrichs, called bell animalcules

The term was also used by Anton van Leeuwenhoek, the 17th-century preformationist and discoverer of microorganisms, to describe spermatozoa.

The word appears in the Major-General's Song, in which Major-General Stanley sings, "I know the scientific names of beings animalculous..."

See also

• Caminalcule