fauna
noun/ˈfɔːnə/
Etymology Borrowed from New Latin fauna, from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus (“god of forests and herdsmen”); akin to Ancient Greek θαῦνον (thaûnon, “wild animal, beast”), θώς (thṓs, “jackal, wild dog; panther”), Phrygian δάος (dáos, “wolf”).
1
Animals considered as a group; especially those of a particular country, region, time, biological group, etc.
- the flora and fauna
- Japanese waters also support a rich and diverse shark fauna, including the smallest known shark Squaliolus laticaudus, and the bizarre goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni.1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 199:
2
A particular group of animals as distinguished from another.
- More than this, at least twenty genera, which are common to New Guinea and Aru, do not extend into Ceram, indicating with a force which every naturalist will appreciate, that the two latter countries have received their faunas in a radically different manner.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 291:
3
A book cataloguing the animals of a country.
- Derived terms
37 terms
aerofauna, aquafauna, archaeofauna, avifauna, chronofauna, coprofauna, cryptofauna, echinofauna, endofauna, endolithofauna, epifauna, faunal, faunic, faunist, faunistic, faunivore, faunivorous, faunology, herpetofauna, ichnofauna, ichthyofauna, infauna, limnofauna, macrofauna, malacofauna, mastofauna, megafauna, meiofauna, mesofauna, microfauna, myrmecofauna, necrofauna, nematofauna, palaeofauna, paleofauna, stygofauna, thanatofauna- Hypernyms
- biota