sclerodermite

1. (zoology) The hard integument of crustaceans.Examples: "In fact each zoonite in turn is formed of several distinct parts or sclerodermites, which also, by welding together, produce arrests of development and atrophied members."Synonyms: sclerenchyma

2. (zoology) A calcareous support structure, such as that produced by the corals in the Scleractinia order, by sclerosponges, and by some sea cucumbers.Examples: "The most recent study has been made by Hayasi (78), who finds that the calcareous lamellae which form the sclerodermites are formed by secretions of the calicoblasts and that the latter are not themselves calcified."; "The same is true of the sclerodermites of Holothuroidea but it is not true of other echinoderm microfossils, such as echinoid pedicellariæ and microcrinoids."; "Where the sclerodermites are arranged in a linear series making an almost continuous ( commonly zig-zag, Fig.38) line of centres of calcification, the resulting trabecula has a circular cross-section equal to the equatorial section of a single sclerodermite."