Mammalian.
/məˈmeɪlɪə/, /maˈmeɪlɪə/, U.S. /məˈmeɪljə/, /məˈmeɪliə/ Zoology.
(In form Mammalia; with plural or singular agreement) the large class of vertebrate animals comprising the mammals; (with plural agreement, also mammalia) vertebrates of this class (collectively or individually), mammals.
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Mammalia1773
Mammifera1825
1773 Encycl. Brit. III. 362/2 The First Class, Mammalia, is subdivided into 7 Orders.
1817 W. Lawrence Lect. (1823) 101 In the mammalia..we descend from man to the whale or seal.
1831 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. v. 290 The remains of mammalia have not yet been detected in the cretaceous group.
1875 A. R. Wallace in B. Dixon From Creation to Chaos (1993) 300 This character prevails through the entire series of the mammalia, from the marsupials to the quadrumana.
1881 Nature No. 615. 337 We and beasts constitute..the class Mammalia.
1909 Chatterbox 254/2 We may..say a word about nest-building among the mammalia.
1915 A. E. Shipley & E. W. MacBride Zool. (ed. 3) 644 The evolution of the ear-bones in Mammalia.
1964 T. J. Parker & W. A. Haswell Text-bk. Zool. (ed. 7) II. 652 Birds and mammals are characterized also by the retention of a single aortic arch, in Mammalia the left one.
1970 R. A. Maier & B. M. Maier Compar. Animal Behavior 9 The highest class of vertebrates, Mammalia, is represented by animals with hair and mammary glands.
1986 A. S. Romer & T. S. Parsons Vertebr. Body (ed. 6) i. 17 The domestic dog (Canis familiaris) is in the genus Canis, the family Canidae (all dogs), the order Carnivora (most carnivorous mammals), the class Mammalia, and the phylum Chordata.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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