Prototherian
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of the egg-laying mammals of the subclass Prototheria; a monotreme.
"Monotremes (prototherians), which include the duck-billed platypus, and short- and long-beaked echidnas, have a cloaca—a single opening for the fecal, urinary, and reproductive tracts."
- 2 primitive oviparous mammals found only in Australia and Tasmania and New Guinea wordnet
- 1 Belonging or pertaining to the subclass Prototheria.
"It is evident that the Edentates are widely separated from all other existing Eutherians; and Professor W. K. Parker, in view of the tendency to a variation in the number of cervical vertebræ and other features, has suggested a separate origin from a Prototherian stock."
Example
More examples"It is evident that the Edentates are widely separated from all other existing Eutherians; and Professor W. K. Parker, in view of the tendency to a variation in the number of cervical vertebræ and other features, has suggested a separate origin from a Prototherian stock."
Etymology
From translingual Prototheria + -an, from Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-, “proto-, first”) + θηρίον (thēríon, “beast”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.