1. plural of stemma; family trees or genealogical diagrams
Usage: formal; academic
2. simple eyes or ocelli found in various invertebrates
Usage: biology; zoology

Examples

• The scholar created detailed stemmata to trace the manuscript traditions.
• Ancient genealogical stemmata helped historians understand royal lineages.
• The researcher compared multiple stemmata of the same text family.
• Insect stemmata detect changes in light intensity.
• The caterpillar’s stemmata are arranged in clusters on its head.
• Biologists study stemmata to understand primitive vision systems.