antechinus

[prettygoodword]

antechinus (ant-eh-KEE-nuhs) - n., any of several very small marsupials (genus Antechinus) resembling mice with the bristly fur of shrews.


Sometimes called pouched mice or marsupial mice, and there are currently 15 recognized species, almost all from the eastern coast of Australia. This cutie is a brown antechinus (A. stuartii):


Thanks, WikiMedia!

I'm having difficulty finding a solid etymology: the only one I've found claims it's from Latin roots anti- + echinus, hedgehog, but the only sense of anti- that makes sense to me there is the rival/counterpart to, so 🤷🏻‍♂️

---L.

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

Those are the ones who’ve gained infamy for their reproductive habits: the males spend a brief mating season screwing themselves to death in a rapid corticosteroidal meltdown, and then die en masse—having seeded pups to perpetuate the species.

…but the only sense of anti- that makes sense to me there is the rival/counterpart to, so 🤷🏻‍♂️

Possibly encompassing “false”, as in Antipope or Antichrist?

[prettygoodword]

That's them. Suppose I could have mentioned that.

I was counting the anti- of Antipope as part of that rival/counterpart cluster of sense.

[med_cat]

Aww :)

I remember reading an article about them ;) marsupial mice!

[prettygoodword]

Wee pouches!

[med_cat]

Yes...and carnivorous :P