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antechinus

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Antechinus

English

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A brown antechinus (Antechinus stuartii)
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Etymology

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Borrowed from translingual Antechinus.

Noun

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antechinus (plural antechinuses or (rare) antechini)

  1. Any member of the genus Antechinus of small carnivorous marsupials that resemble shrews.
    • 1873 November 5, Gerard Krefft, “Australian Natural History”, in Transactions of the Royal Society of New South Wales, for the Year 1873, Sydney, N.S.W.: Thomas Richards, […], published 1874, page 135:
      These are distinguished from the Monodelphia, or Placentalia, by bringing forth their young in a very rudimentary state, nourishing them in a “marsupium,” which is either a regular pouch or a simple skinfold, such as our native cats and antechini develop at the time of parturition.
    • 1886, T[homas] B[ather] Moore, “Western Tasmania”, in J[ames] P[ark] Thomson, editor, Proceedings of the Queensland Branch of the Geographical Society of Australasia. 1st Session, 1885-6., volume I, Brisbane, Qld.: Watson, Ferguson & Co., […], page 65:
      Being on the West Coast at the time, and always anxious to forward any scientific investigations, I collected all the varieties of kangaroo rats, antechini, and rats that came under my observation.
    • 1970, W. D. L. Ride, Ella Fry, A Guide to the Native Mammals of Australia, page 116:
      Smaller than the wambengers, the antechinuses are secretive and are seldom seen by people unless they are caught and brought into houses by domestic cats.
    • 1990, Eric Hoffman, “Victoria’s Alpine Region”, in Adventuring in Australia (The Sierra Club Adventure Travel Guides), San Francisco, Calif.: Sierra Club Books, →ISBN, page 239:
      Two species of antechini live above the snowline. These are pugnacious rat-sized marsupials. Male antechini copulate so vigorously that they die from exhaustion.
    • 1998, Deirdre Slattery, chapter I, in The Australian Alps: Kosciuszko, Alpine and Namadgi National Parks‎[1], page 67:
      I thought it was my fault until I consulted the experts, and found that antechinus die naturally at this time of the year. […] Antechinus eat beetles, spiders and cockroaches, which they find in decaying litter and topsoil in their habitat of dense ground cover.
    • 2007, Stephen Jackson, Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management, unnumbered page:
      If held as a colony outside the breeding season, antechinus show relatively little aggression while still forming a linear hierarchy.

Derived terms

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Translations

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