释义 |
litoptern Palæont.|lɪˈtɒptɜːn| Also litopternan. [f. mod.L. name of order Litopterna (F. Ameghino 1889, in Actas Acad. Nac. Córdoba VI. 492), f. Gk. λῑτός smooth + πτέρνη heel-bone.] An extinct South American ungulate mammal of the order so called. Hence litopternine |lɪˈtɒptɜːnaɪn| a.
[1891E. D. Cope in Amer. Naturalist XXV. 688 The articulation in the Litopterna is of ungulate character.] 1925C. R. Eastman tr. Zittel's Text-bk. Palaeontol. III. 123 The Litopternine suborder of ungulates is restricted to South America. 1927Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. xi. 243 (caption) Extinct South American Litopternan. 1933A. S. Romer Vertebr. Paleontol. xvi. 316 Small litopterns..present in the oldest known Tertiary beds of South America, had primitive bunodont cheek teeth. 1971Nature 15 Jan. 172/1 In some mammals, tapirs, elephants, the extinct astropotheres, pyrotheres, and litopterns, the external nares are posterior and large. |