megapode

American  

[meg-uh-pohd] / ˈmɛg əˌpoʊd /

noun

1. any of several large-footed, short-winged gallinaceous Australasian birds of the family Megapodiidae, typically building a compostlike mound of decaying vegetation as an incubator for their eggs.

---

megapode British  

/ ˈmɛɡəˌpəʊd /

noun

1. Also called: mound-builder.  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 See also brush turkey mallee fowl

---

Etymology

Origin of megapode

First recorded in 1855–60; from New Latin Megapodius, a genus name; see origin at mega-, -pod

Example Sentences

The results, their new paper states, eliminate a megapode as the source.

From Washington Post • May 25, 2022

When the team compared the protein sequences with those found in modern megapode eggs, they were completely different, even falling outside the group that connects all living land birds, Demarchi says.

From Science Magazine • May 25, 2022

Because they prefer to lay their eggs on sandy ground, over 90% of megapode nests were located within thirty meters of the waterline, prior to the tsunami.

From Scientific American • Mar. 22, 2011

The Nicobar megapode was found to be the most favoured targets of these airguns.”

From Scientific American • Mar. 22, 2011

The megapode, with no sense of fear, is so silly that it would have been annihilated hundreds of centuries before had it not been preserved by the taboos of the chiefs and priests. 

From Jerry of the Islands by London, Jack