-cola, -colas; -cole; -colent; -colid; -coline; -colous

(Latin: to inhabit; to live in, to live on, to live among; to dwell; living among, dwelling in; occurring on, occurring in)

Suffixes that refer to the location or an area of growth. Used primarily in botanical and biological terminology to indicate a plant or an organism that is characterized by a habitat or place of existence as indicated by the combining root.

The suffix -cole is derived from Latin colere, "to inhabit, to dwell, to live".

If you want to see more details about a "Source" link under any of the entries in this unit, click on it and you will be taken to the Bibliography of Habitat and Dwelling Environments unit and there you can find the book by scrolling down until you see the TITLE of the book in GREEN.

Don't confuse this -cole, -cola , "inhabit, live in, dwelling in" unit with the following cole-, coleo- (sheath, scabbard, vagina); coll-, col- (neck); collo-, coll- (glue); colo-, col- (colon, large intestine); and colon-, coln- (farm, settlement) units.

myrmecocolous (adjective), more myrmecocolous, most myrmecocolous
A reference to an organism occupying or living in ants' nests.
namatocole (verb), namatocoles; namatocoled; namatocoling: brooks, streams
To thrive or to live in brooks and streams.
necrocoleopterocole (verb), necrocoleopterocoles; necrocoleopterocoled; necrocoleopterocoling: carrion beetles
Pollinating that is done by carrion beetles.
nemocole (verb), nemocoles; nemocoled; nemocoling: woods
Living or dwelling in open woodland.
nemocolous (adjective), more nemocolous, most nemocolous
A reference to living in open woodlands.
nemoricole (verb), nemoricoles; nemoricoled; nemoricoling: trees
Living in open woodland.
nemoricoline (adjective), more nemoricoline, most nemoricoline
A reference to a tendency of creatures that live among trees.
nervicole (verb), nervicoles; nervicoled; nervicoling: leaf, leaves
Living on or in the veins of leaves.
nervicolous (adjective), more nervicolous, most nervicolous
nidicole (verb), nidicoles; nidicoled; nidicoling
To live in a bird's breeding place: The gannets were nidicoling in their nests high on the cliffs above the sea.
nidicoline (adjective), more nidicoline, most nidicoline
1. Nest-dwelling; referring particularly of birds restricted to their nests because of being hatched in a helpless immature condition.
2. A reference to a species that shares the nest of another kind of animal.
nidicolous (adjective), more nidicolous, most nidicolous
1. Referring to birds that are hatched naked, blind, and too weak to stand or to feed themselves; thus remaining confined to their nests during their maturations: Nidicolous songsters usually stay in their dwelling until they are fully grown or close to being capable of flying.

Since meadowlarks are hatched helpless, blind, and without any feathers; they are obviously nidicolous animals that need to be taken care of by their parents.

Other nidicolous animals include mammals and marsupials (kangaroos, wallabies, koala, possums, wombats, etc.).

2. Living in the nests of other species or creatures: There is no doubt that there are nidicolous mites and other vermin that exist in the nests with the warblers.

Some nidicolous avifauna share nests with others of their species.

nivicole (verb), nivicoles; nivicoled; nivicoling: snow
Living in snow or snow-covered habitats.
nivicolous (adjective), more nivicolous, most nivicolous
nomocole (verb), nomocoles; nomocoled; nomocoling: pasture
Living in pastures.

For more details about plants and animals living together, go to this Habitats for the Living page.

The list of books or the resources that were used to compile the information for this unit are available at this Bibliography of Habitat and Dwelling Environments unit.

You may take a self-scoring quiz over some of the words in this section by clicking on this -cole, -colus quiz to check your word knowledge for this unit or even learn some of the words via this quiz.

Related life, live-word units: anima-; bio-; vita-; viva-.