ptilinum
UK/ˈ(p)tɪlɪnəm/
ptilinum noun: a bladder-like pouch on the head of schizophoran flies that by expanding enables the fly to emerge from its puparium.
Noun
ptilinum (plural ptilina)
- A bladder-like pouch on the head of schizophoran flies that by expanding enables the fly to emerge from its puparium.
- As for the structure of the ptilinum itself, Strickland (1953) reported that the ptilina of Conopidae 'are voluminous and represent the most rugged type of ptilinum which we have encountered'.1972, Graham C. D. Griffiths, The Phylogenetic Classification of Diptera Cyclorrhapha, page 243
- Certainly, the ptilinum, a special eversible sac on the head which is evidently a "hatching" structure, is instrumental in causing the puparium to crack along its line of weakness, a longitudinal line around the anterior end, which meets a circular line extending around the anterior margin of what...1980, Stuart E. Reynolds, Integration of Behaviour and Physiology in Ecdysis, Michael J. Berridge, J. E. Treherne, Vincent Brian Wigglesworth, Advances in Insect Physiology, Volume 15, page 500
Forms of ptilinum
| plural | ptilina |
|---|
Origin of ptilinum
Borrowed from New Latin ptilīnum, itself an adaptation of the French ptiline.
Questions about ptilinum
- What does ptilinum mean?
- Ptilinum means a bladder-like pouch on the head of schizophoran flies that by expanding enables the fly to emerge from its puparium.
- What part of speech is ptilinum?
- Ptilinum is a noun.
- How do you pronounce ptilinum?
- Ptilinum is pronounced /ˈ(p)tɪlɪnəm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ptilinum?
- The plural of ptilinum is ptilina.
Words near ptilinum in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ptilinum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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