Petiole (insect)
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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.
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.
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