polyprotodontadj.n.

1868 R. Owen On Anat. Vertebr. III. 294 A retrospect of the modifications of marsupial dentition shows them to be divisible into two classes: one ‘polyprotodont’, or characterised by several pairs of mandibular incisors; the other ‘diprotodont’, or by a single pair... The polyprotodont type prevails in the American genera.

1892 Athenæum 14 May 636/2 He came to the conclusion that this anomalous form [sc. the marsupial mole, Notoryctes typhlops, newly discovered in Central Australia] should stand as a distinct family of polyprotodont marsupials.

1934 Q. Rev. Biol. 9 58/1 In their structural and functional development the fore limbs precede the hind limbs, not only in the polyprotodont marsupials,..but likewise in the more specialized diprotodont marsupials.

1974 Nature 8 Mar. 175/1 Peramelids retained a polyprotodont dentition.

1998 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 265 2381/1 The diprotodont versus polyprotodont condition of the lower incisors..[is] among those [marsupial characters] whose significance has been debated.

1870 R. Owen in Proc. Royal Soc. 19 96 Instances of existing diprotodonts subsisting on animal food, and of existing polyprotodonts on vegetable food, are adduced.

1924 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 212 157 The early condition of the vitelline veins is essentially similar to that of the Polyprotodonts.

1977 Systematic Zool. 26 413/1 A third school..believed that borhyaenids were derived from generalized polyprotodonts.

2002 Nature 30 May 485/1 Opossums..are found only in North and South America, where they are carnivorous marsupials (polyprotodonts). Possums occur in Australia and are herbivorous marsupials (diprotodonts).