Hymenolaimus
hy-men-oh-LAY-mus
Genus
the duck with a membranous throat (or bill-lamellae)
Literally: membrane throat
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hymen- | membrane | Greek (hymen, -o) | combining form hymen-/hymeno-; stem from Greek ὑμήν (hymḗn) |
| -o- | connecting vowel | standard Greek combining vowel | |
| -laimus | throat, gullet | Greek (laim, -o, =us) | used as the terminal noun in apposition; Greek λαιμός (laimós); the -us ending is the Latinized nominative |
The name is a compound noun formed from two Greek roots joined by the connecting vowel -o-. 'Hymen-' (membrane) modifies 'laimus' (throat/gullet), producing a single compound noun treated as masculine in Latin (ending -us). As a genus name it stands alone, with no species epithet to agree with here. The name refers to the prominent lamellae (membrane-like filtering plates) visible at the edges of the bill or throat region, characteristic of the Blue Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos) of New Zealand.
Pronunciation
- hy-men-oh-LAY-mus Penult rule 4: the penult vowel 'ai' is a diphthong (= long e, here read as long 'ay'), so the penult syllable -LAI- receives stress.
Commonly: hy-MEN-oh-lay-mus (some ornithologists stress the second syllable; the penult rule is strictly correct)
Other readings
Some sources parse hymeno- as referring to Hymen (the god of marriage) by coincidence of spelling, but the anatomical sense 'membrane' is strongly preferred given the bird's bill morphology.
Both 'hymen' and 'laim' were confirmed in the dictionary. The genus contains only one extant species, the Blue Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos) of New Zealand, placed in the family Anatidae. The -us ending is a standard Latinization of the Greek -os nominative, giving the genus a masculine grammatical gender.