Ovipositor

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The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for laying eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typically its form is adapted to functions such as preparing a place for the egg, transmitting the egg, and then placing it. For most insects, the organ is used to attach the egg to a surface however for many parasitic species, primarily in wasps and other Hymenoptera, it is also a piercing organ. Some ovipositors partially retract when not in use. The basal part that protrudes is known as the scape or oviscape, the word scape deriving from the Latin word scāpus, meaning "stalk" or "shaft".

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