pedipalp
- noun
- /ˈpɛdɪˌpælp/
- Specialized
- The female passes her own pedipalps over the insect, as if measuring its size with calipers.
- legs and pedipalps
- male pedipalp
Examples
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Check to see if he still has two pedipalps.
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The primary function of pedipalps is to manipulate food while eating.
Blog text (4) -
Pedipalps are modified appendages at the front of a male spider.
Blog text (4) -
The female passes her own pedipalps over the insect, as if measuring its size with calipers.
Academic text (1991) -
So technically, the pedipalps have two functions, though the male bulb (distal-most segment) has only one.
Blog text (4) -
Once she is occupied with her meal, the male gingerly releases his grip on the prey and swivels underneath the female to insert a pedipalp into one of two openings in her abdomen.
Academic text (1991) -
Scytodes can spit silk (fangs are just modified legs), as can a number of mites and spider mites produce silk from their pedipalps.
Blog text (4) -
The thick, hairy appearance of the spider's pedipalps—its frontmost appendages—indicated it was a male.
Synonyms
A small sensitive part near the mouth of insects used for touching and tasting
A small feeler near the mouth that insects and similar animals use to taste or touch
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Pedipalp comes from parts that mean 'foot' and 'to touch': ped- as in pedal ('foot') and palp- from a word for 'to touch'. So a pedipalp is like a 'touching foot', a small leg by the mouth used for feeling, handling food, or helping in mating.