Morlett's crocodile
- noun
- Specialized
- The Morlett's crocodile inhabits rivers and lakes across parts of Central America.
Examples
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Researchers are studying the nesting habits of the Morlett's crocodile to aid conservation efforts.
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A juvenile Morlett's crocodile was spotted sunning itself on the riverbank.
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The Morlett's crocodile is found in freshwater habitats.
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Many tourists visit Belize to see the Morlett's crocodile.
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Researchers are studying the nesting habits of the Morlett's crocodile to aid conservation efforts.
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A juvenile Morlett's crocodile was spotted sunning itself on the riverbank.
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The Morlett's crocodile inhabits rivers and lakes across parts of Central America.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Morlett's + crocodile
This is a straightforward possessive proper-name + noun construction: a learner who knows 'crocodile' will infer that it refers to a crocodile associated with or named after 'Morlett'. The lack of lexical meaning for the proper name does not block basic comprehension of the phrase as a specific type or individual crocodile, and this naming pattern is cross-linguistically common.
Etymology
The name Morlett's crocodile may come from a scientist called Morlett who first described this animal, so the crocodile is 'named after' him.