fossorial
English
Fossorial foreleg of Mole cricket
Skeleton of European mole, showing fossorial adaptions of forelegs
Etymology
From Latin fossōrius (“adapted for digging or delving”), from fodiō (“dig”).
Adjective
fossorial (comparative more fossorial, superlative most fossorial)
- (zoology) Of, pertaining to, or adapted for digging or burrowing.
- 2006, Rose, Kenneth D., The Beginning of the Age of Mammals, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN:
- The most specialized fossorial mammals (moles, marsupial mole) are subterranean, seeking food and shelter underground and rarely coming to the surface.
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Related terms
- fossorialism
- fossorious
- semifossorial
Translations
of, pertaining to, or adapted for digging or burrowing
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See also
- ambulatorial
- cursorial
- gressorial
- natatorial
- raptorial
- saltatorial
- scansorial
Noun
fossorial (plural fossorials)
- (zoology) Any digging animal (such as a mole)
Translations
digging animal
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Anagrams
- isosafrol