Animals characterised by several jointed legs and a hard outer exoskeleton, eg, spiders, ticks, mites and insects (the group that includes mosquitoes).
n. any member of a large group of animals that possess a hard external skeleton and jointed legs and other appendages. Many arthropods are of medical importance, including the *mites, *ticks, and *insects.
Arthropods are segmented invertebrates with jointed legs. They include a wide range of organisms, such as scorpions, mites, ticks, spiders and centipedes (see also ARBOVIRUSES).... arthropods
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