tegmen
/ˈtɛɡmɛn
/noun (plural tegmina)
1 Biology A covering structure or roof of an organ, in particular:These species are notable for the plesiomorphic retention of venation (albeit already quite reduced) in their tegmina, segmented cerci, and pentamerous tarsi....
- Barycrinus species lack a notable anal structure and the tegmen and associated features are very rarely preserved in this species.
- The aboral surface of a complete, smaller specimen is preserved on the holotype, but the tegmen is buried in matrix.
1.1 Entomology A sclerotized forewing serving to cover the hindwing in grasshoppers and related insects.Collecting sites were chosen on the basis of previous collecting experience, and crickets were identified on the basis of differences in body length, hind wing length, ovipositor length, and tegmina color....
- Predators mistaking the pinnule tips for the tegmen could take bites out of the distal parts of the pinnules.
- Male grasshoppers court females by a producing a signal made by alternate stridulation, which is rubbing one hind leg against the tegmen, which produces sound.
1.2 Botany The delicate inner protective layer of a seed.In the recurved margins of the seed, the tegmen was wedge-shaped....
- By contrast, in treated dormant seed, the tegmen appears intact and not expanded.
- The symptomless infected seeds carry thin and hyaline mycelium in the tegmen, endosperm, and space between the endosperm and embryo.
1.3 (also tegmen tympani) Anatomy A plate of thin bone forming the roof of the middle ear, a part of the temporal bone.Another ligament attaches to the body of the incus and binds it to the roof of the middle ear (tegmen tympani)....
- At the blind end of this chamber, the bone forms the tegmen tympani.
- Middle cranial fossa exploration revealed two punched out defects in the dura, with generalised dural thinning, overlying the tegmen and mastoid dural plate, which were eroded.
Origin
Early 19th century: from Latin, 'covering', from tegere 'to cover'.