priodont, a. Zool.
(ˈpraɪədɒnt)
[f. mod.L. Priodōn, -ont-em (Cuvier), generic name, f. Gr. πρί-ειν to saw + ὀδούς, ὀδοντ- a tooth, later altered to Prionodon, f. πρίων, πριον- a saw, whence prionodont.]
Saw-toothed. a. Belonging to the genus Priodon (Priodontes, Prionodon), or the subfamily Prionodontinæ, of armadillos (the kabalassous), characterized by very numerous teeth set closely like the teeth of a saw. b. Applied to a form of the mandibles in stag-beetles, having the projections or teeth small and closely set.
| 1854 Owen Skel. & Teeth in Orr's Circ. Sc. I. Org. Nat. 278 The priodont armadillo..has ninety-eight teeth. 1883 Athenæum 29 Dec. 870/3 Four very distinct phases of development in their mandibles, which the author proposed to term ‘priodont’, ‘amphiodont’, ‘mesodont’, and ‘telodont’. 1899 Cambr. Nat. Hist. VI. 193 In each species [of Lucanidæ (stag-beetles)] these variations [of the mandibles] fall..into distinct states, so that entomologists describe them as ‘forms’, the largest developments being called teleodont, the smallest priodont. |