Zoology glossary ~ S

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Salamander
Typically terrestrial amphibian with a long body and tail and short limbs.

Salt Flats
"Barren areas with highly saline and alkaline soils, formed throught he concentration of mineral residues in salt water."

Saprophagous
Feeding on dead and decaying matter.

Saw-Scaling
Action of a snake curving its body in concentric curves and rasping its keeled scales together to make a sawing sound as a warning.

Scale
Soft, usually overlapping body covering in snakes, lizards, and amphisbaenians.

Scape
The first segment in an insect''s anteannae, nearest its head.

Scrape Nest
"A rudimentary ground nest site, usually with no lining, that a bird forms by creating a shallow depression in the ground."

Scute
Large, well-defined scale.

Secondary
"One of the shorter flight feathers of the wing, attached along the ulna in the inner wing."

Sedentary
"Nonmigratory; generally used for birds that do not move long distances in dispersal or other movements."

Sedges
"Grass-like plants, many in the genus Carex, that are often found in wetlands."

Semi-Precocial
"Describes young that have characteristics of precocial young at hatch."

Semiplumes
"Feathers that lie beneath the countour feathers and that, like down, lack interlocking barbules and barbicels."
Sexual Selection
"A type of natural selection affecting traits that influence an individual's ability to attain or choose a mate, rahter than traits that influence an individual's ability to survive."
Shaft
"A feather's stiff central structure, to which the vanes are attached."

Shell
Protective outer covering of a turtle or tortoise, comprising a carapace and a plastron.

Shorebirds
"Sandpipers, plovers, and their close relatives of similar size and ecology, often associated with coastal and inland wetlands."
Siblicide
"The death of young caused by fighting with siblings. Often occurs in larger birds (eagles, herons) in years when there is not enough food to feed all chicks."

Sink Population
"A breeding group that does not produce enough offspring to maintain itself in coming years without immigrants from other populations."
Social MonogomaySocial Monogamy
"The monogamous association between a male and a female that cooperate in producing a clutch of eggs and (often) raising the resulting young."

Song Repertoire
"The number of different individual songs produced by a single bird."

Songbird
"The common name for members of the order Passeriformes, also called the passerines."
Source Population
"A breeding group that produces enough offspring to be self-sustaining and that often produces excess young that must disperse to other areas."

Southern Ocean
"The continuous expanse of ocean between Antarctica and the southern tips of the other continents."

Species
The term species can be defined as a group of individual organisms that are capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring in nature.

Spy Hopping
A form of cetacean behavior that consists of rising vertically out of the water, head first, and scanning the entire surrounding area while rotating.

Stallion
A male horse, more than four years old.

Stoop
"To dive in the air; used especially for falcons in courtship or when attacking prey."

Strandings
Whales or dolphins that are found stranded on beaches.

Stray
"An individual bird found in a region outside of its regular range."

Stromatolites
Stromatolites

Subelliptical
"Egg shape rounded at both ends but elongated and tapering toward the rounded ends, with the broadest point nearer one end than the other."

Subfamily
"A taxon that is a subset of a family and that contains one or more genera."

Suboscine
"One of two subdivisions of the order Passeriformes."

Subspecies
"A geographical subset of a species showing discrete differences in morphology or coloration compared to other members of the species."

Subtropical
"Habitats and climates that are tropical in nature but found north or south of the tropics."

Succession
"The sequence of plant communities that occur following disturbance and that culminate in a regiou's dominant habitat type."

Supercillium
"Eye-brow."

Supplemental Plumage
"A generation of feathers, additional to the basic and alternate plumages, found in a few birds that have more than two molts per year."

Synapomorphy
A new trait or structural feature that arises in an evolving lineage that is shared between two or more sister groups that illustrates their close relationship.