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View definitions for haustellum

haustellum

noun as in proboscis

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Example Sentences

Haustellum, haws-tel′um, n. the sucking organ or proboscis of an insect or a crustacean:—pl.

Antlia: the spiral tongue or haustellum of Lepidoptera.

Haustellum: a sucker: applied to that portion of the mouth of a sucking insect through which liquid food is drawn into the gullet.

We will suppose that a change takes place in a particular orchid, that the nectary recedes to a greater distance from the point to which the insect can penetrate, and so an advantage is given to those insects in which the haustellum is of a length above the average.

The insect derives an advantage from its increased haustellum, but what advantage does the plant derive from its retiring nectary?

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From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

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