superorder Ratitae
- noun
- Archaic
:
superorden Ratitae
- Until the late twentieth century, the superorder Ratitae grouped all flightless ratite birds together.
Examples
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Recent genetic studies have challenged the classification of birds in the superorder Ratitae.
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Did you know that the superorder Ratitae contains emus?
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In older zoological texts, you may still encounter references to the superorder Ratitae.
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The superorder Ratitae includes flightless birds.
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In older zoological texts, you may still encounter references to the superorder Ratitae.
-
Recent genetic studies have challenged the classification of birds in the superorder Ratitae.
-
Until the late twentieth century, the superorder Ratitae grouped all flightless ratite birds together.
Synonyms
A former group of birds that cannot fly, like ostriches, emus and kiwis
Surface Forms
Morphology
superorder + Ratitae
The phrase is directly compositional: 'superorder' specifies a taxonomic rank and 'Ratitae' names the taxon (the group of ratite, i.e. flightless, birds). A learner who knows both constituents can therefore infer that this refers to the superorder named Ratitae that includes ratite bird orders, and taxonomic naming conventions are cross-linguistically regular.
Etymology
Superorder Ratitae pairs superorder (a 'big group' above an order) with Ratitae, a Latin word meaning 'raft' because these birds have a flat breastbone like a little raft. That's why the name was used for the 'group' of large 'flightless' birds such as ostriches, emus and kiwis.
