Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A soft, cushionlike pad on the foot of an insect, such as the housefly, by which it clings to a surface.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In entomology, a little process, like a cushion, pad, or sucker, between the clavi or claws of the apical or terminal tarsal joint of an insect's leg; a foot-pad.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) One of the minute cushions on the feet of certain insects.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun zoology One of the minute
cushions on the feet of certaininsects .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Palmula: = pulvillus; q.v. Palp: a mouth feeler or palpus.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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Pad: the pulvillus, or that part of it which is capable of extension and retraction in some Coleoptera.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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Coleoptera; the bifid pseudotarsi between the claws: used also as = pulvillus; and see arolium, onychium, palmula, paronychium, plantula, pseudonychium and pulvillus.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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Diptera; see empodium: a more or less retractile process on the feet of some beetles: in Hymenoptera, the apical tarsal joint bearing the claws: see also arolium and pulvillus.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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Extension plate: a structure at the base of the pulvillus whose function it is to extend it.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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Arolium - ia: cushion-like pads on the tarsi of many insects: one of the lobes of the pulvillus; in Orthoptera, used only for the terminal pad between the claws: see empodium; pulvillus; palmula; plantula; onychium, paronychium, pseudonychium.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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Plantula: a lobe of the divided tarsal pulvillus; one of the soles or climbing cushions of the foot: see arolium; pulviglus.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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Extension sole: the pad-like pulvillus which may be extended by the extension plate through the pressure plate.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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From them we learn that it requires a coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, tarsus, ungues, pulvillus, and anterior, medial and posterior spurs to provide a leg for a moth.
Moths of the Limberlost Gene Stratton-Porter 1893
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There are beetles that simply put the pulvillus so flat against a smooth surface that it stays there by the pressure of the air above.
The Insect Folk Margaret Warner Morley 1890
Gammerstang commented on the word pulvillus
(noun) - A small cushion or pillow. In surgery, a small olive-shaped mass of lint used for plugging deep wounds; diminutive of pulvinus, cushion. --Sydenham Society's Lexicon of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 1897
February 7, 2018