Pl. -a. [L., f. sustentāre: see SUSTENTATE and -CULE.] a. Anat. A sustaining or supporting part or organ (only in L. phr., as s. lienis, s. tali). b. Zool.: see quot. 1838.
1838. Blackwall, in Trans. Linnæan Soc. (1841), XVIII. 224, note. A strong, moveable spine inserted near the termination of the tarsus of each posterior leg, on the under side, in spiders belonging to the genus Epeira, which I propose to denominate sustentaculum.
1882. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., VI. 178. In this operation many species are aided by peculiar spines (called sustentacula) attached to the last joints of the posterior legs.
