pseudo-, pseud-

(Greek: false, deception, lying, untrue, counterfeit; used as a prefix)

pseudomeningitis
pseudomnesia (s) (noun) (no plural)
A recollection of events that have never taken place or of things that have never existed; a false memory: Dr. Smith's psychiatric patient, who was having a case of pseudomnesia, was sure he had been in Australia on vacation with his wife and had such vivid memories of being there, although, in reality, he had never been to that continent at all!
pseudomorph
1. A false, deceptive, or irregular form or shape.
2. A mineral that has the crystalline form of another mineral rather than the form normally characteristic of its own composition.
pseudomorphic
1. A reference to an altered mineral whose crystal form has the outward appearance of another mineral species.
2. A descriptive term referring to a deceptive or an irregular form.
pseudomorphism
1. An irregular or unclassifiable form.
pseudomorphose
To change by pseudomorphism.
pseudomorphosis
1. The state of having a form, usually crystalline, different from that proper to the mineral; the process by which this state is brought about.
2. Conversion into a false or deceptive form; by transformation, or forced into an abnormal formation.
pseudomyopia
Pseudomyrma
A slender ant that lives within the hollow thorns of the bull-horn acacia in Central and South America, including Mexico and which sting viciously.

The presence of these stinging Pseudomyrma ants protects the acacia trees from leaf-eating enemies.

Before maturity, the large acacia thorns are filled with pith and covered by hard, outer walls. When mature, the ants gnaw an entrance hole into one of each pair of thorns and remove all of the soft pith.

The entrance is made near one of the tips. Within the paired thorns, the ants establish their colony and begin rearing their young, well protected by the hard shell-like walls.

It would seem as if the tree had purposely provided these slender little ants with a safe home and apparently, this is true, since the ants pay their rent by protecting the leaves from leaf-eating insects; especially, leaf-cutting ants which are able to defoliate a tree in one night.

Not only does the acacia provide snug homes for its standing army of Pseudomyrma ants; it also furnishes food for them.

At the base of each leaflet-bearing twig, there is a row of crater-like glands which secrete a honey-like liquid upon which the ants feed.

As a result, the ants have food and lodging, and the acacia, in return, receives protection from enemies like leaf-cutting ants or leaf-eating beetles.

—Compiled from information located in The Ant Realm by Ross E. Hutchins;
Dodd, Mead & Company; New York; 1967; pages 148 & 149.
pseudomyrmecine
Ant larvae that are members of the Pseudomyrmex colonies.
Pseudomyrmex
Extremely aggressive stinging, wasp-like ants that attack intruders of all sizes.

They become alert to the mere smell of a cow or a person, and when their acacia tree is brushed or shaken, they swarm out and immediately attack intruders.

Their stings are very painful, causing a lasting burning and throbbing effect. To brush against an occupied acacia, and thus to acquire a group of vicious, stinging ants on an arm or a leg, is a sensation very much like walking into a large nettle plant.

—Compiled from information located in The Ants by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson;
The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; Chambridge, Massachusetts; 1990; page 532.
pseudonarcotic (adjective) (not comparative)
A reference to inducing sleep with a sedative effect, but not directly narcotic.
pseudonecrophilia
In psychiatry, masturbation with phantasies of corpses as the sexual object.
pseudoneuritis
pseudonym (s) (noun), pseudonyms (pl)
1. A false or fictitious name; especially, one that is assumed by an author: One of the most famous pseudonyms known in American literature is that of Mark Twain which is the pseudonym of the American writer Samuel L. Clemens.
2. A name erroneously applied to some other species than that to which it properly belongs: Some people believe that it is a pseudonym to call children "kids" because it has been a term for young goats, foxes, antelopes, etc. before it was applied to humans.
A pen name or a fictitious name.
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A fictitious or false name.
© ALL rights are reserved.

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