‖ siˈphunculus Zool.
Pl. -culi.
[L. sīphunculus a little pipe, dim. of sīpho siphon.]
1. = siphuncle 1.
Anglicized as siphuncule by Mayne Expos. Lex. (1858).
| 1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 121 A siphunculus carried the whole length of the shell [of the nautilus]. 1764 Phil. Trans. LIV. 48 The siphunculus of the Belemnite is always upon the verge of the chamber, or cell. 1822 J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 164 The chambers divided by winding septa, pierced by a siphunculus always placed at the outer side. 1836 Buckland Geol. & Min. xv. §3 (1837) I. 332 Families of fossil chambered shells, that possessed siphunculi. |
2. Ent. A tubular appendage on the abdomen of aphids, which lets out a waxy substance when the animal is attacked that acts as an alarm pheromone; (formerly believed to be the tube from which honeydew comes). Usu. called a cornicle.
| 1939 V. B. Wigglesworth Princ. Insect Physiol. x. 233 At the apex of the abdominal tubes or siphunculi of Aphids are ostioles..which allow wax-laden blood cells to escape. 1975 Jrnl. Zool. CLXXV. 280 When prodded or attacked by parasites or predators aphids often exude these cells bathed in fluid from their siphunculi. |