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Glite Dictionary
Vulpes vulpes

Vulpes vulpes

8.7
A common red fox with reddish brown fur that lives in Europe and Asia
  • noun
  • /ˈvʌl.pɪs ˈvʌl.pɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : Vulpes vulpes
  • The red fox, known scientifically as Vulpes vulpes, is often seen in forests and fields.

Examples

  • In nature documentaries, Vulpes vulpes is frequently depicted hunting for food at dusk.

  • Many people enjoy watching Vulpes vulpes as it prowls through gardens in search of small animals.

  • The adult stage of this cestode is found mostly in the digestive tract of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes).

    Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

red fox
vsVulpes vulpes
1 3.2

A wild animal like a small dog with red-brown fur that lives in fields and towns

is the formal scientific name used in taxonomy rather than the everyday name

Surface Forms

Vulpes vulpes singular
Vulpes vulpeses plural

Morphology

Vulpes + Vulpes

The term is a Latin binomial (genus + species). If a learner knows that 'Vulpes' refers to the fox genus, they can infer this denotes a fox species (the red fox), but recognizing binomial taxonomy and Latin repetition is not a standard English compositional pattern and may not be fully obvious to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The scientific name Vulpes vulpes comes from Latin and simply repeats the Latin word Vulpes, which means 'fox'. Early scientists used Latin names and sometimes repeated the same word to show the main kind in a group, so Vulpes vulpes is the formal name for the red fox.