Zool. [mod.L. (Illiger), f. Gr. κόνδυλος (see CONDYLE) + οὐρά tail, a name given from the knotty appearance of the tail in dried specimens.] Generic name of the Star-nosed Mole of North America.
[1829. Sir J. Richardson, Fauna Boreali-Amer., I. 284.]
1837. Penny Cycl., VII. 443/1. Condylura, Illiger’s name for a genus of insectivorous mammifers.
1860. W. S. Dallas, Anim. Kingd., 762. In the genus Condylura … the nose is surrounded by a number of small moveable cartilaginous filaments, which radiate somewhat in the form of a star, and are doubtless employed as organs of touch.
