Definition of "haustellum" []

• A portion of the proboscis that is adapted as a sucking organ in many insects. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Antlia: the spiral tongue or haustellum of Lepidoptera."
• "We will suppose that a change takes place in a particular orchid, that the nectary recedes to a greater distance from the point to which the insect can penetrate, and so an advantage is given to those insects in which the haustellum is of a length above the average."
• "The insect derives an advantage from its increased haustellum, but what advantage does the plant derive from its retiring nectary?"