fossorial

English

Fossorial foreleg of Mole cricket

Skeleton of European mole, showing fossorial adaptations of forelegs

Etymology

From Latin fossōrius (“adapted for digging or delving”), from fodiō (“dig”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹiəl

Adjective

fossorial (comparative more fossorial, superlative most fossorial)

1. (zoology) Of, pertaining to, or adapted for digging or burrowing.
   • 2006, Kenneth D. Rose, The Beginning of the Age of Mammals, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN:

     The most specialized fossorial mammals (moles, marsupial mole) are subterranean, seeking food and shelter underground and rarely coming to the surface.

Related terms

• fossorialism
• fossorious
• semifossorial

Translations

of, pertaining to, or adapted for digging or burrowing

• Bulgarian: риещ (bg) (riešt), ровещ (bg) (rovešt)
• French: fouisseur (fr) m, fouisseuse (fr) f
• Hebrew: מתחפרים m pl (mitchafrim)
• Persian: دالان‌ساز sg (dalansaz)
• Spanish: fosorial
• Vietnamese: động vật ở hang
• Welsh: turiol, cloddiol

See also

• ambulatorial
• cursorial
• gressorial
• natatorial
• raptorial
• saltatorial
• scansorial

Noun

fossorial (plural fossorials)

1. (zoology) Any digging animal (such as a mole)

Translations

digging animal

• French: fouisseur (fr) m

Anagrams

• isosafrol