Standard Lemma guide

ptilinum

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈ(p)tɪlɪnəm/
  • UK: /(p)tɪˈlʌɪnəm/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A bladder-like pouch on the head of schizophoran flies that by expanding enables the fly to emerge from its puparium.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, entomology, natural-sciences, zoology

Examples

  • 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, 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 was the 4th visible segment of the larvae cuticle (Laing, 1935).

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin ptilīnum, itself an adaptation of the French ptiline.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: ptiline — bladder-like pouch on the head of some flies
  • Latin: ptilīnum — bladder-like pouch on the head of some flies