Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An external pouch or fold on the abdomen of most female marsupials, containing the mammary glands and in which the young continue to develop after leaving the uterus.
  • noun A temporary pouch in certain fishes, amphibians, and invertebrates in which eggs are carried until hatched.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Roman antiquity, a purse of the kind usually borne in the hand of Mercury, and indicating his character as god of gain.
  • noun In medicine, a sack or bag in which any part of the body is fomented.
  • noun In zoology, a purse- or pouch-like receptacle for the eggs or young, more external than any of the proper organs of gestation; a brood-pouch of any kind.
  • noun In anatomy, the alar ligaments (which see, under alar).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The pouch, formed by a fold of the skin of the abdomen, in which marsupials carry their young; also, a pouch for similar use in other animals, as certain Crustacea.
  • noun The pecten in the eye of birds and reptiles. See pecten.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The external pouch in which female marsupials rear and feed the young
  • noun A brood pouch in some fishes, crustaceans and insects in the family Monophlebidae

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an external abdominal pouch in most marsupials where newborn offspring are suckled

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin marsūpium, pouch, from Latin marsīpium, marsuppium, from Greek marsippion, marsuppion, diminutive of marsippos, marsuppos, purse, perhaps of Iranian origin; akin to Avestan marsū-, belly, paunch.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin marsūpium, from Ancient Greek μαρσίππιον (marsippion), diminutive of μάρσιπος (marsipos, "pouch"), perhaps of Oriental origin.

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Examples

  • Superficially, mysidaceans look much like small shrimp, and since they have a ventral marsupium, they are often called opossum shrimp.

    Crustacea 2008

  • He then releases sperm which she sweeps into her marsupium by vibrating her pleopods.

    Crustacea 2008

  • They form a shallow chamber on the ventral surface of the thorax called a marsupium.

    Crustacea 2008

  • The incubating eggs and newly hatched young remain in the marsupium for up to one month.

    Crustacea 2008

  • The newly hatched young amphipods stay in the marsupium until the female undergoes a post-copulatory moult.

    Crustacea 2008

  • They are large and platelike, and form the marsupium, in which the eggs and developing young are protected.

    Crustacea 2008

  • Females have a marsupium in which they brood their young until they are ready to be released into the environment.

    Crustacea 2008

  • Copulation consists of the male wrapping the posterior part of his body around the female's ventral side, bringing his uropods in close proximity to her marsupium.

    Crustacea 2008

  • After mating is complete, the female releases eggs into her marsupium where fertilization takes place.

    Crustacea 2008

  • After 1 to 10 months, the eggs are fertilized and pass into the marsupium.

    Crustacea 2008

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