| 释义 |
epicuticle|ˈɛpɪkjuːtɪk(ə)l|
Also epicuˈticula.
[f. epi- + cuticle.]
The outer layer of a cuticle. a. The thin outermost waxy covering on an insect or other arthropod.
1929[see endocuticle a]. 1934A. D. Imms Gen. Textbk. Entomol. (ed. 3) i. 7 In most insects a very thin stratum or epicuticula (less than 1µ in thickness) is present outside the exocuticula. 1957Encycl. Brit. XII. 417 F/1 Outside this [sc. the exocuticle of insects] there is an extremely thin layer, the ‘epicuticle’, which contains no chitin. 1967P. A. Meglitsch Invert. Zool. xvi. 676 Three distinct layers can be recognized in the cuticle. A thin outermost layer of tanned proteins, waxes, and other fatty compounds makes up the epicuticle.
b. A thin outer membrane surrounding animal fibres or hairs, etc.
1949J. Lindberg et al. in Textile Research Jrnl. XIX. 674/1 Proceeding from the outside of the fiber inward..the following have been described: (a) a very thin epicuticular membrane..forming the external surface of the fiber, (b) an exocuticle layer and (c) an endocuticle... The epicuticle, as seen in the electron microscope, appears as a thin, uniformly thick..film falling easily into folds. 1956Nature 18 Feb. 319/1 An interesting suggestion was that in human hair..the epicuticle seems to be tucked in beneath the scale which it is covering; this feature is less obvious in wool fibres. 1962W. J. Onions Wool ii. 16 The epicuticle, a membrane about 100 Å thick (i.e. about 1/100th of the thickness of the total cuticle in wool) was isolated..by treating wool with a solution of sodium sulphide.
Hence epicuˈticular a.
1939V. B. Wigglesworth Princ. Insect Physiol. ii. 20 The unicellular glands are lined only by the epicuticular cuticulin. 1945Ann. Reg. 1944 376 The insecticidal action of chemically inert dusts which abrade the epicuticular wax film and so cause the insect's death. |