Tympanuchus cupido cupido
- noun
- Specialized
:
gallo de las praderas de Heath
- The last known Tympanuchus cupido cupido died on Martha's Vineyard in 1932.
Examples
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Researchers studied old specimens of Tympanuchus cupido cupido to learn about its habitat and decline.
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The Tympanuchus cupido cupido was once abundant in the northeastern United States.
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Conservationists often cite Tympanuchus cupido cupido as a symbol of extinct North American birds.
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Did the Tympanuchus cupido cupido really go extinct?
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Researchers studied old specimens of Tympanuchus cupido cupido to learn about its habitat and decline.
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The last known Tympanuchus cupido cupido died on Martha's Vineyard in 1932.
-
Conservationists often cite Tympanuchus cupido cupido as a symbol of extinct North American birds.
Synonyms
A large wild bird like a prairie chicken that lived in eastern North America and is now extinct
Surface Forms
Morphology
Tympanuchus + cupido + cupido
This is a Latin scientific name (genus + species + subspecies) rather than a compositional English phrase, so its meaning ('an extinct subspecies of the prairie chicken') cannot be derived from the literal words. Even if a learner recognized 'Tympanuchus' as a prairie-chicken genus, the repeated Latin element 'cupido' is a taxonomic label, not a transparent descriptor, and B1 learners would not infer subspecies status or extinction from the constituents alone.
Etymology
Tympanuchus cupido cupido may come from old words meaning a 'drum' (Tympanuchus) and 'Cupid' or a lover (cupido). The male bird makes a drum-like sound and a showy mating dance, so the name helps you remember this prairie chicken that is now extinct in the northeastern United States.
