noun
definition
A small antenna.
Examples of antennules in a Sentence
In the great majority of Crustacea the antennules are purely sensory in function and carry numerous " olfactory " hairs.
The antennules (or first antennae) are almost universally regarded as true appendages, though they differ from all the other appendages in the fact that they are always innervated from the " brain " (or preoral ganglia), and that they are uniramous in the nauplius larva and in all the Entomostracan orders.
As regards their innervation an apparent exception is found in the case of A pus, where the nerves to the antennules arise, behind the brain, from the oesophageal commissures, but this is, no doubt, a secondary condition, and the nerve-fibres have been traced forwards to centres within the brain.
In the Malacostraca, the antennules are often biramous, but there is considerable doubt as to whether the two branches represent the endopodite and exopodite of the other limbs, and three branches are found in the Stomatopoda and in some Caridea.
The most peculiar modification, perhaps, is that found in the Cirripedia (Thyrostraca), in the larvae of which the antennules develop into organs of attachment, bearing the openings of the cement-glands, and becoming, in the adult, involved in the attachment of the animal to its support.
The functions of the antennae are more varied than is the case with the antennules.
A very curious function sometimes discharged by the antennules or antennae of Decapods is that of forming a respiratory siphon in sand-burrowing species.
In nearly all Crustacea the antennules and often also the antennae bear groups of hair-like filaments in which the chitinous cuticle is extremely delicate and which do not taper to a point but end bluntly.
These may be formed by the modification of almost any of the appendages, often the antennules or antennae or some of the thoracic limbs, or even the mandibular palps (some Ostracoda).
The antennules are uniramous, the others biramous, and all three pairs are used in swimming.
The barnacles and their allies, forming the group Cirripedia or Thyrostraca, sometimes treated as a separate sub-class, are distinguished by being sessile in the adult state, the larval antennules serving as organs of attachment, and the antennae being lost.
Most conspicuous among the appendages of the head are the feelers or antennae, which correspond to the anterior feelers A (antennules) of Crustacea.