sciuromorphn.adj.
/ˈsʌɪjᵿrəmɔːf/, U.S. /ˈsaɪ(j)ərəˌmɔrf/ Zoology.
A. n.
A rodent of the group Sciuromorpha, which comprises the squirrels, mountain beaver, and their relatives. Sciuromorpha was formerly a superfamily that also included the beavers and scaly-tailed squirrels; it is now a suborder that also includes the dormice.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [noun]
Rodentia1802
rodent1830
sciuromorph1877
sciuroid1937
1877 E. Coues in E. Coues & J. A. Allen Monogr. N. Amer. Rodentia (U.S. Geol. Surv. Territories, vol. XI) 554 I am inclined to consider the Haplodont type as probably the oldest among existing Sciuromorphs.
1882 Pop. Sci. Monthly Jan. 423 The sciuromorphs (squirrels and marmots).
1916 Anat. Rec. 10 459 It is only in those rodents possessing more than three cheek teeth, in general the so-called Sciuromorphs and Hystricomorphs, that deciduous teeth occur.
1971 Acta Anatomica 80 336 (title) The cephalic arterial system in sciuromorphs with special reference to the systematic classification of rodents.
2006 K. D. Rose Beginning Age Mammals xv. 308 (caption) Theridomyids and cylindrodontids are more closely related to sciuromorphs (specifically ischyromyids) than to ctenodactyloids.
B. adj.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of the group Sciuromorpha.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [adjective] > of or relating to rodents > of family Sciuromorpha
sciuromorph1877
sciuromorphic1877
sciuromorphine1893
sciurid1910
1877 E. Coues in E. Coues & J. A. Allen Monogr. N. Amer. Rodentia (U.S. Geol. Surv. Territories, vol. XI) 564 These processes [are] so strongly characteristic of the Sciuromorph skull.
1920 Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 42 242 The geomyid series,..like the castorids, are specialized derivatives of the primitive sciuromorph stock.
1965 Systematic Zool. 14 327/2 One [myomorph superfamily] developed essentially a sciuromorph masseter pattern, and the others a myomorph one.
2009 R. Stefoff Rodent Order ii. 47 The second family of sciuromorph rodents contains about three dozen species of dormice.
Derivatives
ˌsciuroˈmorphic adj. rare = sense B.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [adjective] > of or relating to rodents > of family Sciuromorpha
sciuromorph1877
sciuromorphic1877
sciuromorphine1893
sciurid1910
1877 E. Coues in E. Coues & J. A. Allen Monogr. N. Amer. Rodentia (U.S. Geol. Surv. Territories, vol. XI) 553 The skull of Haplodontidæ is strongly and unmistakably Sciuromorphic, not only in its general structure, but in many ultimate details.
2000 Amer. Zoologist 40 1002/1 Arguments for multiple origins of the sciuromorphic condition.
ˌsciuroˈmorphine adj. rare = sense B.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [adjective] > of or relating to rodents > of family Sciuromorpha
sciuromorph1877
sciuromorphic1877
sciuromorphine1893
sciurid1910
1893 Proc. Zool. Soc. 202 I fail to see in its molars anything else than the usual Sciuromorphine type.
1989 Jrnl. Mammal. 70 709 A sciuromorphine type of digastric muscle occurs in Aplodontia.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1877