(of certain animals) feeding on dead or decaying organic matter
saprophagous in American English
(sæˈprɑfəgəs)
adjective
feeding on decaying organic matter
Word origin
sapro- + -phagous
saprophagous in American English
(sæˈprɑfəɡəs)
adjective
Biology(of an organism)
feeding on dead or decaying animal matter
Word origin
[1810–20; sapro- + -phagous]This word is first recorded in the period 1810–20. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: dominance, keyboard, knockout, rationalize, zombie-phagous is a combining form meaning “eating,” “feeding on,” “devouring” the thing specifiedby the initial element. Other words that use the affix -phagous include: dendrophagous, entomophagous, euryphagous, hematophagous, rhizophagous
Examples of 'saprophagous' in a sentence
saprophagous
While saprophagous animals dominated, our study revealed variability within this nutritional group.
Jaroslav Smrž, Ľubomír Kováč, Jaromír Mikeš, Vladimír Šustr, Alena Lukešová, KarelTajovsky, Alena Nováková, Petra Režňáková 2015, 'Food sources of selected terrestrial cave arthropods', Subterranean Biologyhttp://subtbiol.pensoft.net/lib/ajax_srv/article_elements_srv.php?action=download_pdf&item_id=5607. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Anecic animals are absent from the topomorphic structure and saprophagous animals absent from the trophic structure.
O. V. Zhukov, O. N. Kunah, V. A. Novikova 2016, 'The functional organisation of the mesopedobionts community of sod pinewood soilson arena of the river Dnepr', Vìsnik Dnìpropetrovsʹkogo Unìversitetu: Serìâ Bìologìâ, Ekologìâhttp://ecology.dp.ua/index.php/ECO/article/view/658. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
This saprophagous species relies on its environment where it finds the decomposing matter for the larvae to grow.
Bertrand Hoc, Grégoire Noël, Joachim Carpentier, Frédéric Francis, Rudy Caparros Megido 2019, 'Optimization of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) artificial reproduction.', PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6490921?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)