o·vi·pos·i·tor

(ō′və-pŏz′ĭ-tər)

1. A tubular structure, usually concealed but sometimes extending outside the abdomen, with which many female insects deposit eggs.

2. A similar organ of certain fishes and turtles.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ovipositor

(ˌəʊvɪˈpɒzɪtə)

1. (Zoology) the egg-laying organ of most female insects, consisting of a pair of specialized appendages at the end of the abdomen

2. (Zoology) a similar organ in certain female fishes, formed by an extension of the edges of the genital opening

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

o•vi•pos•i•tor

(ˌoʊ vəˈpɒz ɪ tər)

n.

1. an organ at the end of the abdomen in certain female insects, through which eggs are deposited.

2. a similar organ in other creatures.

o·vi·pos·i·tor

(ō′və-pŏz′ĭ-tər)

A tube in many female insects that extends from the end of the abdomen and is used to lay eggs.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

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

organ - a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an animal that is specialized for some particular function

Translations

яйцеклад

ovipositor

n → Legebohrer m, → Legestachel m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

But natural selection can and does often produce structures for the direct injury of other species, as we see in the fang of the adder, and in the ovipositor of the ichneumon, by which its eggs are deposited in the living bodies of other insects.

View in context

The diagnostic characters of the species are the enlarged dorsal-longitudinal ridges on the basal half of the ovipositor, and the setose sclerotized posterior margin of the male seventh tergite.

Two new species of the tribe Alycaulini (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) from Brazil

The ichneumon slides her long ovipositor into the hole and lays eggs inside the horntail larvae.

Femme fatales

Most parasitoid wasps have a long organ called the ovipositor, which helps them place eggs into or on their prey.

Wasp with giant stinger discovered in the Amazon

In females, the ovipositor is not included in the measurement of the body length.

Paraplangia sinespeculo, a new genus and species of bush-cricket, with notes on its biology and a key to the genera of Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea) from Madagascar

Ovipositor relative length: shorter than abdome (0) (Figure 23); longer than abdome (1) (Figures 24 and 25)

Phylogeny of the genus Stephomyia Tavares, 1916 (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)/Filogenia do genero Stephomyia Tavares, 1916 (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

Interspecific variation in ovipositor morphology among manaosbiid and nomoclastid harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones, Laniatores).

Ontogenetic differences and interspecific variation in the tarsal aggregate pores on leg IV of cosmetid harvestmen (Opiliones: Laniatores)

Genera in this key are grouped by tribe, and some of these are based on the following structures: body size, pronotum, fastigium, cerci, subgenitalplate, and shape of ovipositor.

Key to the Tribes and Genera of Tettigonioidea (Orthoptera) of Pakistan

Pablo Vargas Lugo's recent exhibition "Ovipositor" surprisingly paralleled, whether intentionally or not, certain concepts integral to the poststructuralist thought of Jacques Derrida--dissemination and fertility, nakedness and its inescapable vulnerability, presupposed presence and factual appearance.

Pablo Vargas Lugo: Labor

Diagnosis.--Species in this group are characterized by the more or less laterally compressed metasomal apex of females, with T4 - 7 always visible, and T1 nearly parallel sided; ovipositor and sheaths are relatively long and thick, with the sheaths rounded or lanceolate; antenna short with most flagellomeres only slightly longer than wide, antenna shorter than body, about as long as or shorter than forewing; forewing vein 1CUb more than 2 times longer than 1CUa, vein 1cua slightly inclivous, and vein M+CU more or less sinuate; hindwing with wing vein RS sinuate, marginal cell narrowest at middle, vein m-cu mostly present and interstitial to just antefurcal, vein M+CU a little longer than 1M; apex of hind tibia without modified comb of setae.

Cuatro especies nuevas del grupo de especies Aleiodes compressor Herrich-Schaffer (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae) de Sudamerica