hatteria

hatteria

See also: Hatteria

English

Etymology

From obsolete New Latin Hatteria, which was a genus proposed in 1842 and later rejected.

Noun

hatteria (plural hatterias)

1. (dated) The tuatara.
   • 1891, Julia McNair Wright, Nature Readers: Sea-side and Way-side (issue 4, page 163)

     The skull of the hatteria is more like that of a crocodile than like that of any other reptile; but on the other hand its legs are like those of the lizard […]

   • 1902, Animal Life and the World of Nature

     A Red-breasted Water lizard, appropriately christened “Robin,” seemed more especially to excite its ire in the vain pursuit of which the hatteria would rush out from its lair with angry gruntings whenever that lizard chanced to trespass too closely […]

   • 1975, Pierre Paul Grassé, Larousse Encyclopedia of the Animal World, page 407:

     This association favours the hatterias which feed on the numerous insects attracted by the birds' excrement.

Anagrams

• terai hat