‖ Mammalia, n. pl.
(mæˈmeɪlɪə)
[mod.L. mammālia (Linnæus), neut. pl. of late L. mammālis adj., f. mamma: see mamma2.]
A ‘class’ of the animal kingdom the members of which are characterized by the possession of mammæ in which milk is secreted for the nourishment of the young.
The Mammalia are divided into the placental and the implacental Mammalia (see the adjs.), the latter comprising only the marsupials and monotremes. Except the monotremes, the Mammalia are all viviparous.
| 1773 Encycl. Brit. III. 362/2 The First Class, Mammalia, is subdivided into 7 Orders. 1817 Lawrence Lectures (1823) 101 In the mammalia..we descend from man to the whale or seal. 1832 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. (ed. 2) 297 The remains of mammalia have not yet been detected in the cretaceous group. 1881 Mivart in Nature No. 615.337 We and beasts constitute..the class Mammalia. |