meg·a·pode

(mĕg′ə-pōd′)

Any of various large-footed, ground-dwelling birds of the family Megapodiidae, found in Australia, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific islands, that build mounds or burrows of earth and compost in which to incubate their eggs. Also called mound builder.

[From Megapodius, type genus : mega- + New Latin -podius, masculine of -podium, -pod.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

megapode

(ˈmɛɡəˌpəʊd)

(Animals) any ground-living gallinaceous bird of the family Megapodiidae, of Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands. Their eggs incubate in mounds of sand, rotting vegetation, etc, by natural heat. Also called: mound-builder or moundbird See also brush turkey, mallee fowl

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

megapode - large-footed short-winged birds of Australasia; build mounds of decaying vegetation to incubate eggs

mound bird, mound-bird, scrub fowl, mound builder

gallinacean, gallinaceous bird - heavy-bodied largely ground-feeding domestic or game birds

family Megapodiidae, Megapodiidae - megapodes

leipoa, Leipoa ocellata, lowan, mallee fowl - Australian mound bird; incubates eggs naturally in sandy mounds

Alectura lathami, brush turkey - black megapode of wooded regions of Australia and New Guinea

Macrocephalon maleo, maleo - Celebes megapode that lays eggs in holes in sandy beaches

Translations

megápodo

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

He ate out of a sense of necessity and duty, and cared little for what he ate, save for one thing: the eggs of the megapodes that were, in season, laid in his private, personal, strictly tabooed megapode laying-yard.

View in context

You may chance upon megapode (tabon) birds and turtles laying eggs (at nighttime) on a secluded shore.

Birdmageddon: A journey to Ursula's deepest secret

Kubo spoke of these named groups as oobi, a term that translates, literally, as 'man mound'--an assemblage of people brought together, as a megapode (djago) rakes together the leaves on the forest floor to make a mound (djago bi) in which to incubate its eggs.

'We Are Fire Clan': Groups, Names and Identity in Papua New Guinea

EVER HEARD OF A MEGAPODE? ALONG with tracking rare owls, Joseph also guides walks to find nicobar pigeons (a close relative of the dodo) and intriguingly-named megapodes.

THE WORLD BENEATH THE WAVES; KIMBE BAY WAS ONE OF THE LAST PLACES CONSERVATIONIST JACQUES COUSTEAU DIVED. SARAH MARSHALL EXPLORES BELOW THE SURFACE

Chris added: "Some modern-day species, such as crocodilians and megapode birds, use their snout to measure nest temperature, and in the case of crocodiles even pick up their young with extreme care, despite their huge mouths.

Sensitive faces helped dinosaurs eat, woo, take temperature: Study

Paternity in the Australian brush-turkey, Alectura lathami, a megapode bird with uniparental male care.

Cooperative Breeding of Buff-Throated Partridges in Two Natural Populations: Demographic Comparison with a Habituated Population

Among his catches were: the Nicobar Jungle Flycatcher, Central Nicobar Serpent Eagle, Nicobar Megapode, Arctic Warbler etc.

Birdman claims a new record

Vleck, "Gas exchange in the incubation mounds of megapode birds," Journal of Comparative Physiology B, vol.

Olive ridley sea turtle hatching success as a function of microbial abundance and the microenvironment of in situ nest sand at Ostional, Costa Rica

A bird called the Micronesian megapode doesn't use its body heat to incubate its eggs, like most birds do.

Sea of surprises: a newly protected tropical paradise has a deep, dark secret

16 WHICH comedy favourite was almost called Arthur Megapode's Cheap Show?

TV trivia to test the sharpest box watcher

Veitch, B 1994, 'Hearth stones in the mound: one variable that may aid in the differentiation between shell mounds and megapode incubation mounds', in M Sullivan, S Brockwell & C Webb (eds), Archaeology in the north, Proceedings of the 1993 AAA Conference, Darwin, NT, N.A.R.U.

Bruce Veitch: 1957-2005

Smaller surface soil features with elevated nitrogen and organic carbon levels were the result of mounds constructed by megapode birds (Noble 1993).

The relationship between animal foraging and nutrient patchiness in south-west Australian woodland soils