Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A cluster of pigment-containing photosensitive cells in each ommatidium of the compound eye of an arthropod.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In entomology, a group of combined retinal cells, bearing a rhabdom.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) One of the group of pigmented cells which surround the retinophoræ of invertebrates. See Illust. under ommatidium.

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

  • noun biology One of the group of pigmented cells that surround the retinophorae of invertebrates.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin rētinula, diminutive of Medieval Latin rētina, retina; see retina.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin, literally "small retina".

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Examples

  • The remaining two principal photoreceptors (retinula cells R1 and R5) give rise to long visual fibres.

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Peter Skorupski et al. 2010

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