MONOTREME

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does monotreme mean? 

• MONOTREME (noun)
  The noun MONOTREME has 1 sense:

1. the most primitive mammals comprising the only extant members of the subclass Prototheria

  Familiarity information: MONOTREME used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MONOTREME (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The most primitive mammals comprising the only extant members of the subclass Prototheria

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

egg-laying mammal; monotreme

Hypernyms ("monotreme" is a kind of...):

prototherian (primitive oviparous mammals found only in Australia and Tasmania and New Guinea)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "monotreme"):

anteater; echidna; spiny anteater (a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to Australia)

anteater; echidna; spiny anteater (a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to New Guinea)

duck-billed platypus; duckbill; duckbilled platypus; Ornithorhynchus anatinus; platypus (small densely furred aquatic monotreme of Australia and Tasmania having a broad bill and tail and webbed feet; only species in the family Ornithorhynchidae)

 Context examples 

The singular posterior opening of the intestinal and urinary tracts of birds, reptiles, amphibians, marsupials and monotremes.

(Cloaca, NCI Thesaurus)