Aplodontia rufa
- noun
- Specialized
:
Aplodontia rufa
- The Aplodontia rufa is often called the mountain beaver, despite not being a true beaver.
Examples
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Researchers studied the burrowing habits of Aplodontia rufa in the dense forests of Washington State.
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Sightings of Aplodontia rufa are rare due to its nocturnal and secretive nature.
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The Aplodontia rufa is known for its burrowing habits.
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Have you ever seen an Aplodontia rufa in the wild?
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Researchers studied the burrowing habits of Aplodontia rufa in the dense forests of Washington State.
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Sightings of Aplodontia rufa are rare due to its nocturnal and secretive nature.
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The Aplodontia rufa is often called the mountain beaver, despite not being a true beaver.
Synonyms
A large rodent active at night that digs burrows in forests on the Pacific coast of North America
A small animal like a mouse that lives in burrows and is active at night
Surface Forms
Morphology
Aplodontia + rufa
This is a Latin binomial (genus + species) and functions as a taxonomic proper name rather than a compositional English phrase. The constituents are specialized/proper forms (one is a genus name; the other is not a common English word), so a B1 learner who ‘‘knows’’ the surface words would not be able to infer the meaning 'mountain beaver' from them. Therefore the expression is idiomatic/specific and not transparently derivable from its parts.
Etymology
Aplodontia rufa is the scientific name for the animal often called the 'mountain beaver'. The parts Aplodontia and rufa come from old words meaning 'simple tooth' and 'red', but an easy picture to remember is a small, beaver-like rodent that lives in mountain forests and digs burrows, so people call it the 'mountain beaver' today.
