Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Feeding on only one kind of food.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Feeding on a single substance, or a single kind of food: opposed to heterophagous.
- Specifically, of sporozoans, passing the entire life-cycle in one host; permanently intracellular: contrasted with
polyphagous .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective That
eats only one kind offood .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Koine Greek μονοφάγος (monophagos, "that eats alone") + English -ous
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Examples
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One must know that the brinjal fruit and shoot borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) is also a characteristic monophagous insect (single host pest) and will naturally try to struggle to withstand bacterial toxins.
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Most phytophagous insects are diet specialists, i.e., they feed on one or a few plant species that are closely related (monophagous, host plants within one plant genus, or oligophagous, host plants within one family) [2].
PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Hubert Turner et al. 2010
whichbe commented on the word monophagous
Feeding on only one type of food. (from Phrontistery)
May 23, 2008
dontcry commented on the word monophagous
I'm soooo close to being that. Would croissants qualify as a type of food or an amalgamation of foods? Maybe I'm just carbophagous...
May 23, 2008
yarb commented on the word monophagous
I'm going to be monophagous on broad beans tonight.
May 23, 2008