scutellum
Americannoun
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Botany. the shieldlike cotyledon of certain monocots.
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Zoology. a small plate, scutum, or other shieldlike part, as on the thorax of insects or the feet of birds.
noun
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the last of three plates into which the notum of an insect's thorax is divided
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one of the scales on the tarsus of a bird's leg
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an outgrowth from a germinating grass seed that probably represents the cotyledon
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any other small shield-shaped part or structure
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A shieldlike bony plate or scale, as on the thorax of some insects.
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The large, shield-shaped cotyledon of the embryo of a grass plant, specialized for the absorption of food from the endosperm.
Other Word Forms
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Nouns
Etymology
Origin of scutellum
1750–60; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin scūt ( um ) shield ( see scute) + -ellum diminutive suffix
Example Sentences
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See Examples For:
Found globally, these insects are named for their outsized scutellum, from the Latin word scutum, meaning shield.
From National Geographic ● Jun. 23, 2018
The scutellum is considered to represent the first leaf or cotyledon.
From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.
Post-alar membrane: the strip of membrane connecting the squamae with the scutellum.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
The axis, which is differentiated into the plumule directed upward and the radicle downward, is small and straight and it is covered more or less by the edges of the scutellum.
From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.
Parapsidae: the small sclerites on each side of the scutellum in Chalcids, marked by the parapsidal grooves.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
It follows the scutum, and is followed by the small postscutellum; a scutella.
From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section S by Project Gutenberg
Each kind gets its name from the Latin scutella, "a little cap," which the calyx resembles, and is therefore called Hood Wort, or Helmet flower.
From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by Fernie, William Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
