What does ovipositor mean?

Definitions for ovipositor
ˌoʊ vəˈpɒz ɪ tərovipos·i·tor

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word ovipositor.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. ovipositornoun

    egg-laying tubular structure at the end of the abdomen in many female insects and some fishes

Wiktionary

  1. ovipositornoun

    A tubular protruding organ for laying eggs.

  2. Etymology: From ovum + positor.

Wikipedia

  1. Ovipositor

    The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typically its form is adapted to functions such as preparing a place for the egg, transmitting the egg, and then placing it properly. For most insects, the organ is used merely to attach the egg to some surface, but for many parasitic species (primarily in wasps and other Hymenoptera), it is a piercing organ as well. Some ovipositors only retract partly when not in use, and the basal part that sticks out is known as the scape, or more specifically oviscape, the word scape deriving from the Latin word scāpus, meaning "stalk" or "shaft".

ChatGPT

  1. ovipositor

    An ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some female animals for the laying of eggs. In insects, it can often be seen protruding from the end of the abdomen, and it may also have other functions such as stinging or injecting venom. In birds, the ovipositor is part of the reproductive system. Its primary function is to guide the egg from the ovary and out of the bird's body.

Wikidata

  1. Ovipositor

    The ovipositor is an organ used by some animals for oviposition, i.e., the laying of eggs. It consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages formed to transmit the egg, to prepare a place for it, and to place it properly. In some of the insects the organ is used merely to attach the egg to some surface, but in many parasitic species it is a piercing organ as well. It is used by grasshoppers to force a burrow in the earth to receive the eggs and by cicadas to pierce the wood of twigs for a similar purpose. Both long-horned grasshoppers and sawflies cut the tissues of plants by means of the ovipositor. None of these examples is quite as remarkable as the wasp genus Megarhyssa, the females of which have a slender ovipositor several inches long that is used to drill into the wood of tree trunks . These species are parasitic in the larval stage on the larvae of horntail wasps, hence the egg must be deposited directly into the host's body as it is feeding. The sting of Hymenoptera is also an ovipositor, in this case highly modified and associated with poison glands that are used to paralyze prey. This would allow eggs to be laid without the host fighting back, and probably also to suppress the host's immune system so that it can't destroy the eggs or shake off the paralysis. However, in virtually all stinging hymenopterans, the ovipositor is no longer used for egg-laying.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Ovipositor

    ō-vi-poz′i-tor, n. the organ at the extremity of the abdomen of many insects, by which the eggs are deposited.—v.i. Ovipos′it, to deposit eggs with an ovipositor.—n. Oviposit′ion. [L. ovum, egg, positorponĕre, to place.]

Entomology

  1. Ovipositor

    the tubular or valved structure by means of which the eggs are placed; usually concealed; but sometimes extended far beyond the end of the body.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of ovipositor in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of ovipositor in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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"ovipositor." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/ovipositor>.

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