Definitions

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

  • noun Plural form of spiracle.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • As same as other insects, the air going throuh the side of the abdomen called spiracles, however insects can respirate without using lungs.

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Jonghyeok92 2009

  • Air enters tubes across the body through some openings that are called spiracles, and pumping movements force air through this system.

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Unlike most animals, insects do not breathe through noses, but rather through small holes in their sides, known as spiracles.

    Whistling Caterpillars Discovered The Huffington Post 2010

  • In order to determine how the whistling sounds are made, neuroethologist Jayne Yack and researcher Veronica Bura applied latex to the eight pairs of spiracles on the caterpillar.

    Whistling Caterpillars Discovered The Huffington Post 2010

  • They discovered that the whistles come from the eighth pair of spiracles.

    Whistling Caterpillars Discovered The Huffington Post 2010

  • She checked on the phytophagous stew, her spiracles told her that it was almost done.

    Caterpillars in love. Khaver Siddiqi 2010

  • A beheaded specimen would continue to breathe (through its spiracles) and lead a rather boring existence without much activity until (barring an infection by a mold, virus or bacterium) it eventually died of dehydration and starvation.

    La Cucaracha, La Cucaracha 2008

  • Insects get oxygen for the bodies through small holes in the surface of their cuticles -- these holes are called spiracles.

    Evolution 2008

  • The physical properties of how insects respire mean that insects have an upper limit as to how large they can get, as if they get too large they suffocate as they cannot get enough oxygen through their spiracles to supply their increasing body mass.

    Evolution 2008

  • The size of spiracles increases with the surface area of the insect and, hence, increases as a two-dimensional plane of length and breadth.

    Evolution 2008

  • The walnut sphinx caterpillar, too, is a thrasher; instead of spitting up goo, it whistles through its air holes, or spiracles.

    The Little-Known World of Caterpillars Condé Nast 2023

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