| 释义 |
ornithoscelidan, a. (n.) Palæont.|-ˈsɛlɪdən|
[f. mod.L. Ornīthoscelida pl. (f. ornitho- bird + Gr. σκέλ-ος leg + -ida) + -an.]
Of or belonging to the Ornithoscelida, a sub-class or order of extinct reptiles of Mesozoic and Tertiary age, which approached birds in the form of the hinder legs and the pelvic arch.b. n. A member of this order.
The Ornithoscelida are sometimes reckoned as identical with the Dinosauria (in a wide sense), sometimes as containing the Dinosauria and Compsognatha.
1876Huxley Amer. Addr., Lect. Evolution ii. (1877) 61 Hind limbs of a crocodile, a three-toed bird, and an ornithoscelidan. Ibid. 64 The ornithoscelidan limb is comparable to that of an unhatched chick. 1880Haughton Phys. Geog. vi. 265 The Archæopteryx is a connecting link between the true birds and the Ornithoscelidan reptiles. |