A member or organism belonging to the family Botryopteriaceae, an extinct group of ancient fern-like plants.
From Botryopteriaceae + -id (member of a group suffix). Used to refer to individual specimens or species within this plant family.
Scientists needed a short word to say 'something that belongs to the Botryopteriaceae family,' so they created 'botryopterid'—it's the same naming logic you see everywhere, from 'hominid' (human-like) to 'humanoid' (human-shaped).
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