microfaunan.
/ˈmʌɪkrə(ʊ)ˌfɔːnə/, U.S. /ˈmaɪkroʊˌfɔnə/, /ˈmaɪkroʊˌfɑnə/ 1. Ecology. With plural agreement: microscopic or very small animals (usually including protozoans and the smallest metazoans, such as rotifers, and sometimes including bacteria); spec. those of a particular habitat, region, etc. Also (with singular agreement): a group, class, community, or list of such organisms. Cf. macrofauna n., mesofauna n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habitat > [noun] > of a particular region (fauna) > of particular type
ophiology1815
inquiline1879
pilgrim1888
microfauna1895
topomorph1897
faunule1909
cryptozoa1911
epifauna1914
macrofauna1918
megafauna1927
macrobenthos1942
meiobenthos1942
microbenthos1942
meiofauna1950
megafauna1975
1895 Science 13 Sept. 335/2 He discontinued those fruitful excursions to our woods, ponds and rivers by which he contributed so notably to our micro-fauna.
1897 Geogr. Jrnl. 10 323 The average amount of ‘Plankton’ (micro-fauna) contained in them [sc. mountain lakes] is only the tenth..part of that contained in the standing waters of..lowlands.
1924 Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists 8 549 All of the evidence at hand is studied and weighed in the light of intensive study of the micro~faunas of the Gulf Coast region.
1947 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 16 76/2 The smallest [size class of soil animals], the microfauna, ranges in size from 1 to 40μ, and includes bacteria, Protozoa, Rotifera, and the smaller species and larvae of nematodes, and small mites.
1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. xv. 817 This rise [in soluble copper] may contribute to the disappearance of certain members of the microfauna and microflora from the lake.
1991 R. S. K. Barnes & K. H. Mann Fund. Aquatic Ecol. (ed. 2) iv. 77/1 Bacteria and fungi (<10 μm) and microfauna (10–50 μm), such as colourless zooflagellates, ciliated protozoa and amoebae, form the basis of food webs in deep water.
2. Palaeontology. With plural agreement: small fossil vertebrates, spec. those of a particular epoch or region. Also (with singular agreement): a group or list of such animals. Cf. megafauna n. 1.
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1903 H. F. Osborn in Science 27 Nov. 699/2 (heading) American Oligocene microfauna.
1910 H. F. Osborn Age of Mammals iv. 254 Of the microfauna we first observe among the castroids that the genus Chalicomys replaces the Steneofiber of the Oligocene.
1947 Antiquity 21 190 Both diggers and sieve-men became very skilful at descrying even the smallest specimen... The sieve-men would pick out tiny bones of microfauna with amazing verve.
1975 Times 27 May 14/7 The upper part of those river-borne sediments [at Hoxne] contains a rich microfauna of small mammals, fishes and amphibia.
1995 J. Shreeve Neandertal Enigma (1996) vii. 174 The clock they used to chart human progress was based not on tool shapes but on evolutionary changes in ‘microfauna’, the little rodents that had been killed and consumed by cave-dwelling owls.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1895