elater

American  

[el-uh-ter] / ˈɛl ə tər /

noun

1. Botany. an elastic filament serving to disperse spores.

2. Zoology. elaterid.

3. Obsolete. elasticity.

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elater British  

/ ˈɛlətə /

noun

1. an elaterid beetle

2. botany a spirally thickened filament, occurring in liverwort capsules and horsetails, thought to aid dispersal of spores

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elater Scientific  

/ ĕl′ə-tər /

1. A tiny elongated structure that helps disperse plant spores by coiling and uncoiling in response to changes in humidity. The elaters of horsetails are bands attached to the spore wall, while those of liverworts are sterile cells occurring among the spores.

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Etymology

Origin of elater

1645–55; < New Latin < Greek elatḗr driver, equivalent to ela- (stem of elaúnein to drive; see elastic) + -tēr noun suffix

Example Sentences

Kelsay Shaw said Possibility Place has “all the creepy-crawlies” such as eyed elater click beetles, over 100 species of caterpillars, as well as butterflies and moths.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 29, 2023

Furthermore, the spirals may be smooth or spinulose the elater uniform throughout or enlarged betimes by nodes and swellings.

From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)

Certain species of the elater beetles are familiar to every school-boy.

From Harper's Young People, July 20, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

The two spiral bands wind loosely and irregularly and present an elater unlike anything else in the group except the same structure in T. contorta, but here the elater is narrow and the sculpture obscure.

From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)

Boys will know better what is meant by an elater beetle if they are told that it is the same thing as a skip-jack, or snapping-bug.

From Harper's Young People, July 20, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various