notoungulate

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Notoungulata (order name), from Ancient Greek νότος (nótos, south) + Ungulata.

Noun[edit]

notoungulate (plural notoungulates)

  1. (paleontology) Any of several extinct, hoofed, herbivorous mammals of the order †Notoungulata, from Cenozoic South America. [from 20th c.]
    • 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 72:
      At its extreme, there are creatures whose teeth grow continuously, even as their gums recede with a lifetime of grit and grass, a strategy only known in woolly rhinos and notoungulates among larger animals.

Adjective[edit]

notoungulate (comparative more notoungulate, superlative most notoungulate)

  1. Characteristic of these animals