saprophagan

English

Etymology

From saprophage +‎ -an.

Noun

saprophagan (plural saprophagans)

1. (zoology) One of a tribe of beetles that feed upon decaying animal and vegetable substances; a carrion beetle.
   • 1981, “Soviet geography: Volume 22”, in American Geographical Society of New York:

     Natural and sown haylands also differ in the trophic structure of the animal population, with phytophagans and saprophagans about evenly divided in sown legumes and saprophagans dominating in natural grass.

Related terms

• saprophage
• saprophagous
• saprophagy

 

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “saprophagan”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)