genus Tursiops
- noun
- /ˈdʒɛnəs ˈtɜrsiˌɑps/
- Specialized
:
género Tursiops
- Scientists have studied social behavior in several members of the genus Tursiops.
Examples
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The genus Tursiops is well-known for including the highly intelligent bottlenose dolphins.
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The genus Tursiops is widely distributed in warm and temperate seas around the world.
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The genus Tursiops includes several dolphin species.
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Did you know that the genus Tursiops is known for its intelligence?
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The genus Tursiops includes the popular bottlenose dolphin, known for its playful behavior.
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Researchers classify the genus Tursiops as important for studying marine mammal communication.
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Dolphins in the genus Tursiops are often seen in coastal waters around the globe.
Synonyms
A group of dolphins that includes the bottlenose dolphin
A group of small sea animals that swim and breathe air like the common dolphin
A group of dolphins that includes the common dolphin
A sea mammal in the dolphin family, usually the Risso's dolphin with a blunt head and grey marks
A group of sea mammals that includes the killer whale
A white whale like the beluga that lives in Arctic seas
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'genus' (a biological rank grouping related species) with the proper name 'Tursiops' (a known genus of dolphins), so a learner who knows both constituents will understand it denotes the taxonomic group containing those dolphins. This is a standard, non-idiomatic scientific construction found across languages and therefore predictable from its parts.
Etymology
Genus Tursiops comes from old scientific words: genus is a Latin word for a 'group' of animals, and Tursiops may come from an old word for 'dolphin' plus a Greek ending meaning 'looks like'. So, the name means a 'group of dolphin-like animals', which is why it is used for bottlenose dolphins and their close relatives.
