tellinidae
/ˌtɛlɪˈnaɪdiː/noun
A family of marine bivalve molluscs
From Greek, probably transmitted through Latin Tellin- (A kind of shellfish).
Lineage
Tellin-
-idae
The story
Picture a shellfish buried in shallow-sea sediment, breathing through long siphons that reach the water above: that is the sort of animal the family name gathers together. The first part, Tellin-, comes from the genus name Tellina, commonly connected with Ancient Greek τελλίνη, a name for a kind of shellfish; the exact path is not certain. The ending -idae is a zoological family suffix descended from Greek -ίδαι, a form that marks a group or lineage. It gives Tellinidae the same taxonomic family-shaped ending seen in names such as Canidae and Hominidae. So the name is, in effect, an old shellfish name wearing a formal label for its extended family.
Words from the same roots
Sources
- Wikipediatellinidae