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nervule

American  
[nur-vyool] / ˈnɜr vyul /

noun

Zoology.
  1. a small branch of a nerve in the wing of an insect.


Etymology

Origin of nervule

First recorded in 1885–90; nerve + -ule

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I. Fore wing.—1-5, subcostal nervules; 6, 7, discoidal nervules; 8-10, median nervules; 11, submedian nervure; 12, internal nervure; 13-15, disco-cellular nervules; 16, interno-median nervule; 17, median nervure; 18, subcostal nervure; a, costal nervure; b, costa or anterior margin; c, apex or anterior angle; d, posterior or hind margin; e, posterior or anal angle; f, interior or inner margin; g, base; h, discoidal cell.

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Edward Doubleday, in his “Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera,” says, “The Papilionidæ may be known by the apparently four-branched median nervule and the spur on the anterior tibiæ, characters found in no other family.”

From Project Gutenberg

The four-branched median nervule is a character so constant, so peculiar, and so well marked, as to enable a person to tell, at a glance at the wings only of a butterfly, whether it does or does not belong to this family; and I am not aware that any other group of butterflies, at all comparable to this in extent and modifications of form, possesses a character in its neuration to which the same degree of certainty can be attached.

From Project Gutenberg

"Note the anal angle of the secondaries and the argentiferous discal area bordering the subcostal nervule."

From Project Gutenberg

Posterior wings broad, semi-ovate, costal nervure long, sub-costal terminating in only two nervules, discoidal nervule nearly atrophied; discocellular the same, united with the third median nervule; cell rather large.

From Project Gutenberg