Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking below an order or its subdivisions and above a family.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In biology, a group of families, or a. group of a grade next above the family. Thus, the monkeys of the New World constitute a superfamily, Ceboidea or Platyrrhina, contrasting with those of the Old World, Simioidea or Catarrhina. The superfamily formally intervenes between the family and the suborder; some authors are fond of this refinement, and the term is much used; but the difference between a suborder and a superfamily is not obvious.
Wiktionary
- n. taxonomy A taxonomic category above family and below order (and its subdivisions).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A group intermediate between a family and a suborder.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (biology) a taxonomic group ranking below an order but above a family
Etymologies
- super- + family (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Though members of order Lagomorpha can resemble rodents (order Rodentia), and were classified as a superfamily in that order until the early twentieth century, they have since been considered a separate order.”
“Though these mammals can resemble rodents order Rodentia, and were classified as a superfamily in that order until the early twentieth century, they have since been considered a separate order.”
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“(Crocodiles are part of the Crocodyloidea superfamily, whereas alligators and caimans are part of Alligatoroidea).”
“She doesn't yet have a name for the creature, but we have already determined that it's in the family Knittedae, superfamily Craftoidea, class Woolapoda, a sister group of the Gastropoda.”
“About 10 days ago, Christopher Taylor over at Catalogue of Organisms had a post about the terrestrial gastropod superfamily Gastrodontoidea.”
“They've developed a particular expertise around a group of enzymes referred to as the "cytochrome P450 superfamily," or CYP450 for short, which is involved in how the liver metabolizes many chemicals.”
“Sea lion is the name given to sea-dwelling mammals belonging to the Otariidae family of the Pinnipedia superfamily.”
“Most belong to the leguminosae superfamily, many of which are associated with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and various species of ants.”
“Some use it to describe all members of the Hominoidea superfamily.”
“It might be a sylvioid, or it might be a muscicapoid, or it might end up in its own superfamily.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘superfamily’.
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super-, sur-
above or beyond; to a great degree; extra large; of a higher kind
superfamily, supercontinent, superstructure, superabundant, supernumerary, superfluous, superfine, surprise, supercilious, supersonic, surrender, supercede and 33 more...
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Biology
malacological, cladistic, phenetic, phylogenetic, taxonomy, bathypelagic, superfamily, superorder, infraorder, binomen, binominal, quorum sensing and 199 more...
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gleaned words
found words, that haven't found their proper place yet.
juggernaut, panopticon, superfluous, verfremdung, aleatory, googlewhack, palimpsest, petrosomatoglyph, epibiont, solipsism, zugzwang, ubiquitous and 500 more...
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