Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A simple eye, found in many invertebrates, consisting of a number of sensory cells and often a single lens.
- noun A marking that resembles an eye, as on the tail feathers of a male peacock; an eyespot.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A little eye; an eye-spot; a stemma; one of the minute simple eyes of insects and various other animals.
- noun One of the simple elements or facets of a compound eye. See cut of compound eye, under eye.
- noun In Hydromedusæ, a pigment-spot at the base of the tentacles, or combined with other marginal bodies, in some cases provided with refractive structures which recall the crystalline cones of some other low invertebrates. Also called
ocellicyst . - noun One of the round spots of varied color, consisting of a central part (the pupil) framed in a peripheral part, such as characterize the tail of a peacock or the wing of an argus-pheasant.
- noun See the adjectives.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A little eye; a minute simple eye found in many invertebrates.
- noun An eyelike spot of color, as those on the tail of the peacock.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A simple
eye consisting of a singlelens and a small number of sensorycells - noun An
eyelike marking in the form of aspot orring of colour, as on the wing of a butterfly or the tail of a peacock
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an eyelike marking (as on the wings of some butterflies); usually a spot of color inside a ring of another color
- noun an eye having a single lens
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ocellus.
Examples
-
In dinoflagellates, four types of eye-spots are known: type A, an independent structure that is not membrane-bound; type B, an independent membrane-bound structure; type C, structure as part of a chloroplast; and type D, an elaborate eye-like structure called ocellus
PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Hiroshi Yamashita et al. 2009
-
All have compound eyes and may or may not have a single ocellus over each eye.
Insecta (Aquatic) 2008
-
Aquila In nubibus Imperator literatorum, columen literarum, abyssus eruditionis, ocellus Europae, Scaliger.
-
The Ciona βγ-crystallin is only expressed in the palps and in the otolith, the pigmented sister cell of the light-sensing ocellus.
Insight Into Eye Evolution Deals Blow To Intelligent Design - The Panda's Thumb 2005
-
The Ciona βγ-crystallin is only expressed in the palps and in the otolith, the pigmented sister cell of the light-sensing ocellus.
Insight Into Eye Evolution Deals Blow To Intelligent Design - The Panda's Thumb 2005
-
There is genetic variation among individuals for genes that affect ocellus number, but the developmental effects of that variation are prevented by the system of buffering (Waddington 1953, 1957).
The Genotype/Phenotype Distinction Lewontin, Richard 2004
-
If a sufficiently large perturbation is introduced, the developmental buffering capacity is overcome and the genetic variation for ocellus number is revealed.
The Genotype/Phenotype Distinction Lewontin, Richard 2004
-
The head oblong, slightly narrowed posteriorly and emarginate behind, longitudinally striated, the striæ diverging from the centre at the anterior ocellus; at half the distance between the posterior ocelli and the margin of the vertex the striæ are transverse.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various
-
Black; the head and thorax strongly punctured; the mandibles, clypeus, a line above extending to the anterior ocellus, the emargination of the eyes, a spot at their vertex and a line at their outer orbits, yellow; the antennæ reddish-yellow, with the scape pale yellow in front and a narrow fuscous line above; the yellow marking more or less stained orange.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various
-
Black; the face above the clypeus, as high as the anterior ocellus, reddish-yellow; the extreme edge of the clypeus, the labrum and base of the mandibles ferruginous; the antennæ reddish-yellow.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various
ruzuzu commented on the word ocellus
Compare speculum.
August 8, 2024