Polyprotodonts

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Members of a group of mammals, mostly marsupials, that have several pairs of lower incisor teeth and a distinctive dental arrangement
2. Animals belonging to an order of primitive pouched mammals whose lower front teeth are numerous and not fused into a single pair
3. Small mammals classed as polyprotodonts, a group of marsupials and related forms with many similar lower incisors along the jaw

Etymology: Polyprotodonts are marsupials of the infraorder Polyprotodontia, a group whose name is built entirely from Greek parts: "poly" meaning "many", "proto" meaning "first", and "odont" meaning "tooth". The name refers to the arrangement of the front teeth. Members have several small incisors in the lower jaw, which were judged to be more primitive than the two large incisors of their relatives, the diprotodonts, such as kangaroos and wombats. The label is therefore a description of anatomy rather than a traditional name, coined by scientists to sort animals by their teeth. The "poly-" and "proto-" in the word do not describe the group's history directly. Instead, they record how zoologists chose to contrast it with the diprotodonts, whose name uses "di" for "two" in the same way.