stalk-eyed

[ stawk-ahyd ]

adjective

, Anatomy.

1. having the eyes located on pedicels, as some crustaceans and dipterans.

Word History and Origins

Origin of stalk-eyed¹

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

On the sixth floor, where the flies and aquatic insects are kept, Shockley removed a tray covered in stalk-eyed flies.

From Washington Post

We’ve got stalk-eyed flies; flies that are less than a millimetre in size; and my favourites, Mallophora robber flies, which look like massive bumblebees and are highly venomous.

From Nature

Star Wars creator George Lucas did his best to make amends for the horrors of Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace by virtually eliminating the bumbling Gungan from Attack of the Clones – bar a brief appearance in which the hapless stalk-eyed goon rubber-stamps the rise of the evil Empire.

From The Guardian

The male stalk-eyed fly’s eyes “are both an ornament and a weapon,” says Christina Painting, a postdoctoral student of behavioral ecology at the University of Auckland.

From National Geographic

When you think of a mollusk, you probably have something shelled, slimy, and possibly stalk-eyed in mind.

From Scientific American