Petiole (insect anatomy)
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In entomology, the term petiole is most commonly used to refer to the constricted first (and sometimes second) metasomal segment of members of the Hymenopteran suborder Apocrita; it may be used to refer to other insects with similar body shapes, where the metasomal base is constricted. It is occasionally called a pedicel, but, in entomology, that term is more correctly reserved for the second segment of the antenna.
The portion of the metasoma posterior to the petiole (and postpetiole in Myrmicinae) is known as the gaster.
[edit] Other uses
- The term may also be used in the context of wing veins, where a wing cell that is ordinarily four-sided is reduced to a triangle with a stalk (the cell thus being petiolate).
- It is also used to refer to the stalk at the base of paper wasp nests.
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