Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A thin membrane extending between the body and a limb to form a wing or winglike extension, as in bats and flying squirrels.
- noun An expandable membranous fold of skin between the wing and body of a bird.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In zoology: The extensible fold of skin of a flying mammal or reptile; the expansion of the integument of the trunk and limbs or tail, or both of these, by which bats, flying-lemurs, flying-squirrels, flying-opossums, and flying-lizards support themselves in the air.
- noun The fold of integument which occupies the reëntrant angle between the upper arm and the forearm of a bird, bringing the fore border of the wing to a smooth straightish free edge when the wing is closed. The tensor patagii is a muscle which puts this patagium upon the stretch.
- noun In entomology, one of a pair of chitinous scales affixed to the sides of the pronotum of lepidopterous insects, just behind the head, usually covered with long scales or hairs; a shoulder-tippet. Compare
tegula .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Anat.) In bats, an expansion of the integument uniting the fore limb with the body and extending between the elongated fingers to form the wing; in birds, the similar fold of integument uniting the fore limb with the body.
- noun (Zoöl.) One of a pair of small vesicular organs situated at the bases of the anterior wings of lepidopterous insects. See
Illust. ofButterfly .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The thin
membrane that extends between thelimbs andbody of abat or ofgliding mammals - noun A similar membrane between the body and
wing of abird
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Some workers have done this: Charles-Dominique (1977) likened the skin membranes of galagos to incipient patagia, and Feduccia (1993) used the term patagium in connection with sifakas [image above, from Demes et al. (1991), shows the patagia in a sifaka, with the extent of the fur shown in grey around the body].
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Some workers have done this: Charles-Dominique (1977) likened the skin membranes of galagos to incipient patagia, and Feduccia (1993) used the term patagium in connection with sifakas.
Archive 2006-09-01 Darren Naish 2006
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Some workers have done this: Charles-Dominique (1977) likened the skin membranes of galagos to incipient patagia, and Feduccia (1993) used the term patagium in connection with sifakas.
Literally, flying lemurs (and not dermopterans) Darren Naish 2006
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A large flap of skin, called the patagium, extends from the animal's flanks and attaches all the way to wrist and ankle.
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The way the animal holds its long hindlimbs (referring here to the photo showing the animal from behind) and the suggestion of a patagium now make sense, and the unusual curving shape of the long tail matches the tail posture reported for giant flying squirrels (Meijaard et al. 2006, p. 321) and is unlike that of viverrids and other carnivorans.
Archive 2007-01-01 Darren Naish 2007
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I think it's foolish to generalize patagium configuration across the entire group.
Life's Time Capsule: Pterosaur Gallery Weapon of Mass Imagination 2009
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The way the animal holds its long hindlimbs (referring here to the photo showing the animal from behind) and the suggestion of a patagium now make sense, and the unusual curving shape of the long tail matches the tail posture reported for giant flying squirrels (Meijaard et al. 2006, p. 321) and is unlike that of viverrids and other carnivorans.
That’s no mystery carnivore (part II)… it’s a giant squirrel! Darren Naish 2007
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The question is whether the cruropatagium attached to the TAIL thus making it split into two halves or the tail was free, but the patagium ran up to just below the tail.
Life's Time Capsule: Questions about Pterosaurs #1 Peter Bond 2009
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On the apparent absence of the patagium in the 'from behind' image (if I may), note that there is, actually, some strange baggy skin on the animal's right side (anterior to its hindlimb), while on the left we can just about make out what appears to be an unusual amount of loose skin extending, along the anterior surface of the left hindlimb, from the ankle toward the belly.
That’s no mystery carnivore (part II)… it’s a giant squirrel! Darren Naish 2007
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On balance, I would say that these features can only be explained by the presence of a patagium.
That’s no mystery carnivore (part II)… it’s a giant squirrel! Darren Naish 2007
epeolatrist commented on the word patagium
the thin membrane that extends between the limbs and body of a bat or of gliding mammals; a similar membrane between the body and wing of a bird
December 15, 2008