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Glite Dictionary
order Hyracoidea

order Hyracoidea

9.9
A group of small plant-eating mammals like hyraxes and some extinct relatives
  • noun
  • /ˈɔrdər haɪrəˈkoʊdiə/
  • Specialized
: orden Hyracoidea
  • The order Hyracoidea includes modern hyraxes and some species that are now extinct.

Examples

  • Instead, they are the only living representatives of the ancient mammalian order Hyracoidea.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Scientists study the order Hyracoidea to understand the evolution of mammals.

  • Within the order Hyracoidea, hyraxes are known for their unique vocalizations.

Synonyms

Hyracoidea
vsorder Hyracoidea
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A group of small, thickset plant-eating mammals called hyraxes

has identical meaning but phrased as a general taxonomic group

Surface Forms

order Hyracoidea singular
orders Hyracoidea plural

Morphology

order + Hyracoidea

The phrase is fully compositional: 'order' denotes a taxonomic rank and 'Hyracoidea' is the proper name of that taxon, so their combination straightforwardly means the taxonomic group called Hyracoidea. Taxonomic naming follows similar patterns across languages, so a learner who knows both constituent meanings will readily understand this phrase.

Etymology

The name order Hyracoidea comes from the small animals called hyraxes and the idea of an animal 'group', so it simply names the group of animals that includes living hyraxes and their extinct relatives.