patagium
/ˌpatəˈdʒʌɪəm
/noun (plural patagia /ˌpatəˈdʒʌɪə/)
1 Zoology A membrane or fold of skin between the forelimbs and hindlimbs on each side of a bat or gliding mammal.They glide, by taking off from a high perch, spreading a special membrane called a patagium, which resembles a bat wing, and soaring up to 150 feet to another tree....
- The patagium extends all the way around to the bat's hind legs and tail, where it forms a flap called the uropatagium, supported by specialized foot bones called calcars.
- For this study, only the left patagium was used, because this decreases the handling time and the probability of error compared with that of the injection and measurement of both the left and right side.
1.1 Entomology A lobe that covers the wing joint in many moths.
Origin
Early 19th century: from Latin, denoting gold edging on a Roman lady's tunic, from Greek patageion.