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117 The naming of organisms (and plant communities)
masc., [masculus]: (zool., unoff.) masculine; sometimes used to indicate
the sex of a specimen or type.
mataeonym: (unoff.) a superfluous name introduced when there was an
older valid name based on the same type (a typonym, q.v) or on
another member of the same group (a metonym, q.v.).
matronymic: of a name, one involving a matronymic suffix (e.g. Icelandic
“-dottir”, Russian “-evna”).
mechanical hybrid: a naturally occurring intimate mixture of individuals
of two genetically distinct species to form a single functional unit
(e.g. a lichen thallus formed from asexual propagules belonging to
different species).
mechanical method: of typification, any method of selecting a type which
is based on an automatic procedure (e.g. the first species method,
q.v.); not now acceptable in bot. or zool.
megafossils: (palaeo., unoff.) fossils which are large enough to study
without a microscope.
merocultype: (prok., unoff.) a strain of a microorganism derived from a
mixed or impure (contaminated) holotype.
merotype: (bot., zool., unoff.) a part of the organism that furnished the type
of a species, for example a part which has been removed and
conserved separately; see also clastotype, giraultotype, kleptotype.
mesofossils: (palaeo., unoff.) fossils of intermediate size, especially used
for pieces of plant cuticle, wood, and large spores.
metacultype: (unoff.) a strain of a microorganism modified but derived
from the holocultype (q.v.).
metallotype: (zool., unoff.) an allotype (q.v.) of the opposite sex to that of a
specimen designated or described in a publication subsequent to the
original description; these specimens have no formal nomenclatural
standing as types.
metatopotype: (zool., unoff.) a metatype (q.v.).
metatype: (1) (zool., obsol.) a specimen from the type locality (i.e. a
topotype, q.v.) identified by the original describer of the species or
subspecies to which it is referred, but at a date subsequent to the