ommatidium
Americannoun
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ommatidia
plural
noun
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ommatidia
plural
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One of the tiny light-sensitive parts of the compound eye of insects and other arthropods. An ommatidium resembles a single simplified eye.
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See more at compound eye
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ommatidium
1880–85; < New Latin < Greek ommat- (stem of ómma eye) + New Latin -idium -idium
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.
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The lateral eyes of Scorpio consist of groups of separate small lenses each with its ommatidium, but they do not form a continuous compound eye as in Limulus.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 "Apollodorus" to "Aral" by Various
Each ommatidium is an elongated cone with its broad extremity abutting against the corneal lenticle.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics" by Various
The cells of the ommatidium are a good deal larger than the neighbouring common cells of the epidermis.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 "Apollodorus" to "Aral" by Various
The ommataeum, as already stated, tends to segregate into retinulae which correspond potentially each to an ommatidium of the compound eye.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various
The ommatidium is from the first segregate and consists of few cells.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various
So Rogers and his team embedded the artificial ommatidia in a flexible rubber sheet and wired them together with stretchable silicon circuits.
From Science Magazine ● May 1, 2013
"We moved completely away from glass optics," Rogers says, making even smaller ommatidia a possibility.
From Science Magazine ● May 1, 2013
These units, called ommatidia, are essentially self-contained minieyes.
From Science Magazine ● May 1, 2013
As Ann grew, she noticed her parents glancing from her to the other larvae with a strange look in their ommatidia.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 15, 2012
There are over 25,000 ommatidia in the eye of a hawk moth.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various
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