| 释义 |
phalanger Zool.|fəˈlændʒə(r)|
[a. mod.L. (Buffon), also mod.F., f. Gr. ϕαλάγγιον ‘spider's web’, in reference to the webbed toes of the hind feet.]
A quadruped of the genus Phalangista, or of the subfamily Phalangistinæ, Australian marsupials of arboreal habits, containing numerous genera and species, usually of small size, with thick woolly fur; the typical genera (Australian ‘opossums’) have prehensile tails; the flying phalangers (called also flying opossums, flying-squirrels, or petaurists) have non-prehensile tails and a flying-membrane or parachute.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. vii. i. 515 The Phalanger, so-called by Mr. Buffon,..about the size of a rat, and has..been called the Rat of Surinam. 1780Smellie tr. Buffon's Nat. Hist. (1785) VII. 175 We have called it the phalanger, because its phalanges are very singularly constructed. 1876Forest & Stream 13 July 375/2 The native bear, the vulpine phalanger, the wombat. 1885M. R. O. Thomas in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 727/2 Buffon gave to a pair of cuscuses examined by him the name..‘Phalanger’, on account of the peculiar structure of the second and third toes of the hind feet, which are united in a common skin up to the nails. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right xxvii. 249 The rustle of the phalangers and the smaller marsupials. |