Megaptera novaeangliae
- noun
- /ˈmɛɡəˌtɛrə noʊviˈæŋɡliə/
- Specialized
:
Megaptera novaeangliae
- Researchers have observed Megaptera novaeangliae migrating thousands of miles every year.
Examples
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The song of Megaptera novaeangliae can be heard great distances underwater.
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The Megaptera novaeangliae is known for its spectacular breaching behavior.
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Many conservation efforts focus on protecting Megaptera novaeangliae from threats like ship strikes and entanglement.
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Did you know that the Megaptera novaeangliae migrates thousands of miles each year?
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Many conservation efforts focus on protecting Megaptera novaeangliae from threats like ship strikes and entanglement.
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Researchers have observed Megaptera novaeangliae migrating thousands of miles every year.
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The song of Megaptera novaeangliae can be heard great distances underwater.
Synonyms
16
4.3
A large whale with long flippers and a rounded back when diving
6
2.7
A large whale with long flippers that arches its back when diving
Surface Forms
Morphology
Megaptera + novaeangliae
This is a Latin binomial: knowing 'Megaptera' (a genus of large whales) lets a learner infer the phrase names a species of that genus (i.e., a kind of whale), but the specific epithet 'novaeangliae' is undefined here and its Latin roots are not transparently meaningful to a B1 learner. Scientific names are cross-linguistically consistent, so learners can partially infer 'a whale species' but cannot derive the exact common-name referent 'humpback whale' without extra knowledge.
Etymology
Megaptera novaeangliae comes from Greek and Latin words: mega meaning 'large', ptera meaning 'wing' for its long flippers, and novaeangliae meaning 'New England', the place where it was first described. So the name gives a simple picture of the humpback whale as a big animal with 'wings' and explains why this name fits the species today.