English Dictionary |
MONOTREME
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Dictionary entry overview: What does monotreme mean?
• MONOTREME (noun)
The noun MONOTREME has 1 sense:
1. the most primitive mammals comprising the only extant members of the subclass Prototheria
Familiarity information: MONOTREME used as a noun is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
The most primitive mammals comprising the only extant members of the subclass Prototheria
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Synonyms:
egg-laying mammal; monotreme
Hypernyms ("monotreme" is a kind of...):
prototherian (primitive oviparous mammals found only in Australia and Tasmania and New Guinea)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "monotreme"):
anteater; echidna; spiny anteater (a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to Australia)
anteater; echidna; spiny anteater (a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to New Guinea)
duck-billed platypus; duckbill; duckbilled platypus; Ornithorhynchus anatinus; platypus (small densely furred aquatic monotreme of Australia and Tasmania having a broad bill and tail and webbed feet; only species in the family Ornithorhynchidae)
Context examples
The singular posterior opening of the intestinal and urinary tracts of birds, reptiles, amphibians, marsupials and monotremes.
(Cloaca, NCI Thesaurus)
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