columella

American  

[kol-yuh-mel-uh] / ˌkɒl jəˈmɛl ə /

noun

Biology.

• columellae
  plural

1. 1. any of various small, columnlike structures of animals or plants; rod or axis.

   2. Mycology. a small central column of sterile tissue within the sporangium of certain fungi, liverworts, and mosses.

2. a small bone in the ear of amphibians, reptiles, and birds.

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columella British  

/ ˌkɒljʊˈmɛlə /

noun

1. biology

   1. the central part of the spore-producing body of some fungi and mosses

   2. any similar columnar structure

2. Also called: columella auris.  a small rodlike bone in the middle ear of frogs, reptiles, and birds that transmits sound to the inner ear: homologous to the mammalian stapes

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• columellar
  adjective
• columellate
  adjective
• postcolumellar
  adjective
• pseudocolumellar
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• columellae
  plural

Etymology

Origin of columella

1575–85; < Latin: small column, equivalent to colum- (variant of column-, stem of columna column ) + -ella -elle

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

columella columellae

Shell solid, piriform, with thick folded columella; lateral teeth of radula bicuspidate.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 5 "Gassendi, Pierre" to "Geocentric" by Various

Thallus without epidermis; capsule with a columella, short-pedicelled or sessile on the thallus.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

Shell fusiform and solid, aperture elongated, columella folded; no operculum; eyes on sides of tentacles.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 5 "Gassendi, Pierre" to "Geocentric" by Various

The columella and the squamosal extend posteriorly beyond the limits of the braincase.

From A Revision of Snakes of the Genus Conophis (Family Colubridae, from Middle America) by John Wellman

Shell cylindrical, polished, spire conic acuminated, very short; outer lip simple, inner lip thickened, tumid, columella with numerous slender plaits, aperture at the base truncatedly emarginate.

From Zoological Illustrations, Volume I or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by William Swainson

The delicate, spindle-shaped columellae lie ventral to the tegmen tympani and squamosals, are spatulate distally, and have a broad basal attachment to the auditory region.

From Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca by William E. Duellman