Petiole (insect)

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The petiole of this ant consists of two segments

In entomology, the term petiole is most commonly used to refer to the constricted first (and sometimes second) metasomal segment of members of the Hymenopteran suborder Apocrita; it may be used to refer to other insects with similar body shapes, where the metasomal base is constricted. Occasionally, it is alternatively called a pedicel, but in entomology, that term is more correctly reserved for the second segment of the antenna.

[edit] Other uses

• The term may also be used in the context of wing veins, where a wing cell that is ordinarily four-sided is reduced to a triangle with a stalk (the cell thus being petiolate).
• It is also used to refer to the stalk at the base of paper wasp nests.