The tetragonal disphenoid tetrahedral honeycomb is a space-filling
tessellation
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of ge ...
(or
honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.
Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about of honey t ...
) in
Euclidean 3-space
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...
made up of identical
tetragonal disphenoid
In geometry, a disphenoid () is a tetrahedron whose four faces are congruent acute-angled triangles. It can also be described as a tetrahedron in which every two edges that are opposite each other have equal lengths. Other names for the same ...
al cells. Cells are
face-transitive
In geometry, a tessellation of dimension (a plane tiling) or higher, or a polytope of dimension (a polyhedron) or higher, is isohedral or face-transitive if all its faces are the same. More specifically, all faces must be not merely congrue ...
with 4 identical
isosceles triangle
In geometry, an isosceles triangle () is a triangle that has two sides of equal length. Sometimes it is specified as having ''exactly'' two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having ''at least'' two sides of equal length, the latter versio ...
faces.
John Horton Conway
John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branc ...
calls it an ''oblate tetrahedrille'' or shortened to ''obtetrahedrille''.
[ Symmetry of Things, Table 21.1. Prime Architectonic and Catopric tilings of space, p. 293, 295.]
A cell can be seen as 1/12 of a translational cube, with its vertices centered on two faces and two edges. Four of its edges belong to 6 cells, and two edges belong to 4 cells.
:

The tetrahedral disphenoid honeycomb is the dual of the uniform
bitruncated cubic honeycomb
The bitruncated cubic honeycomb is a space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space made up of truncated octahedra (or, equivalently, bitruncated cubes). It has 4 truncated octahedra around each vertex. Being composed entirely of t ...
.
Its vertices form the A / D lattice, which is also known as the
body-centered cubic
In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals.
There are three main varieties of ...
lattice.
Geometry
This honeycomb's
vertex figure
In geometry, a vertex figure, broadly speaking, is the figure exposed when a corner of a polyhedron or polytope is sliced off.
Definitions
Take some corner or vertex of a polyhedron. Mark a point somewhere along each connected edge. Draw lines ...
is a
tetrakis cube: 24 disphenoids meet at each vertex. The union of these 24 disphenoids forms a
rhombic dodecahedron
In geometry, the rhombic dodecahedron is a convex polyhedron with 12 congruent rhombic faces. It has 24 edges, and 14 vertices of 2 types. It is a Catalan solid, and the dual polyhedron of the cuboctahedron.
Properties
The rhombic dodecahed ...
. Each edge of the tessellation is surrounded by either four or six disphenoids, according to whether it forms the base or one of the sides of its adjacent isosceles triangle faces respectively. When an edge forms the base of its adjacent isosceles triangles, and is surrounded by four disphenoids, they form an irregular
octahedron
In geometry, an octahedron (plural: octahedra, octahedrons) is a polyhedron with eight faces. The term is most commonly used to refer to the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at e ...
. When an edge forms one of the two equal sides of its adjacent isosceles triangle faces, the six disphenoids surrounding the edge form a special type of
parallelepiped
In geometry, a parallelepiped is a three-dimensional figure formed by six parallelograms (the term '' rhomboid'' is also sometimes used with this meaning). By analogy, it relates to a parallelogram just as a cube relates to a square. In Euclid ...
called a
trigonal trapezohedron
In geometry, a trigonal trapezohedron is a rhombohedron (a polyhedron with six rhombus-shaped faces) in which, additionally, all six faces are congruent. Alternative names for the same shape are the ''trigonal deltohedron'' or '' isohedral rh ...
.
:

An orientation of the tetragonal disphenoid honeycomb can be obtained by starting with a
cubic honeycomb
The cubic honeycomb or cubic cellulation is the only proper regular space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space made up of cubic cells. It has 4 cubes around every edge, and 8 cubes around each vertex. Its vertex figure is a ...
, subdividing it at the planes
,
, and
(i.e. subdividing each cube into
path-tetrahedra), then squashing it along the main diagonal until the distance between the points (0, 0, 0) and (1, 1, 1) becomes the same as the distance between the points (0, 0, 0) and (0, 0, 1).
Hexakis cubic honeycomb
The hexakis cubic honeycomb is a uniform space-filling
tessellation
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of ge ...
(or
honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.
Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about of honey t ...
) in Euclidean 3-space.
John Horton Conway
John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branc ...
calls it a ''pyramidille''.
[
Cells can be seen in a translational cube, using 4 vertices on one face, and the cube center. Edges are colored by how many cells are around each of them.
:]
It can be seen as a cubic honeycomb
The cubic honeycomb or cubic cellulation is the only proper regular space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space made up of cubic cells. It has 4 cubes around every edge, and 8 cubes around each vertex. Its vertex figure is a ...
with each cube subdivided by a center point into 6 square pyramid
In geometry, a square pyramid is a pyramid having a square base. If the apex is perpendicularly above the center of the square, it is a right square pyramid, and has symmetry. If all edge lengths are equal, it is an equilateral square pyramid ...
cells.
There are two types of planes of faces: one as a square tiling
In geometry, the square tiling, square tessellation or square grid is a regular tiling of the Euclidean plane. It has Schläfli symbol of meaning it has 4 squares around every vertex.
Conway called it a quadrille.
The internal angle of th ...
, and flattened triangular tiling
In geometry, the triangular tiling or triangular tessellation is one of the three regular tilings of the Euclidean plane, and is the only such tiling where the constituent shapes are not parallelogons. Because the internal angle of the equilater ...
with half of the triangles removed as ''holes''.
Related honeycombs
It is dual to the truncated cubic honeycomb with octahedral and truncated cubic cells:
:
If the square pyramids of the pyramidille are joined on their bases, another honeycomb is created with identical vertices and edges, called a square bipyramidal honeycomb, or the dual of the rectified cubic honeycomb.
It is analogous to the 2-dimensional tetrakis square tiling
In geometry, the tetrakis square tiling is a tiling of the Euclidean plane. It is a square tiling with each square divided into four isosceles right triangles from the center point, forming an infinite arrangement of lines. It can also be forme ...
:
:
Square bipyramidal honeycomb
The square bipyramidal honeycomb is a uniform space-filling tessellation
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of ge ...
(or honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.
Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about of honey t ...
) in Euclidean 3-space. John Horton Conway
John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branc ...
calls it an ''oblate octahedrille'' or shortened to ''oboctahedrille''.[
A cell can be seen positioned within a translational cube, with 4 vertices mid-edge and 2 vertices in opposite faces. Edges are colored and labeled by the number of cells around the edge.
:]
It can be seen as a cubic honeycomb
The cubic honeycomb or cubic cellulation is the only proper regular space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space made up of cubic cells. It has 4 cubes around every edge, and 8 cubes around each vertex. Its vertex figure is a ...
with each cube subdivided by a center point into 6 square pyramid
In geometry, a square pyramid is a pyramid having a square base. If the apex is perpendicularly above the center of the square, it is a right square pyramid, and has symmetry. If all edge lengths are equal, it is an equilateral square pyramid ...
cells. The original cubic honeycomb walls are removed, joining pairs of square pyramids into square bipyramids (octahedra). Its vertex and edge framework is identical to the hexakis cubic honeycomb.
There is one type of plane with faces: a flattened triangular tiling
In geometry, the triangular tiling or triangular tessellation is one of the three regular tilings of the Euclidean plane, and is the only such tiling where the constituent shapes are not parallelogons. Because the internal angle of the equilater ...
with half of the triangles as ''holes''. These cut face-diagonally through the original cubes. There are also square tiling
In geometry, the square tiling, square tessellation or square grid is a regular tiling of the Euclidean plane. It has Schläfli symbol of meaning it has 4 squares around every vertex.
Conway called it a quadrille.
The internal angle of th ...
plane that exist as nonface ''holes'' passing through the centers of the octahedral cells.
Related honeycombs
It is dual to the rectified cubic honeycomb with octahedral and cuboctahedral cells:
:
Phyllic disphenoidal honeycomb
The phyllic disphenoidal honeycomb is a uniform space-filling tessellation
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of ge ...
(or honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.
Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about of honey t ...
) in Euclidean 3-space. John Horton Conway
John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branc ...
calls this an ''Eighth pyramidille''.[
A cell can be seen as 1/48 of a translational cube with vertices positioned: one corner, one edge center, one face center, and the cube center. The edge colors and labels specify how many cells exist around the edge. It is one 1/6 of a smaller cube, with 6 phyllic disphenoidal cells sharing a common diagonal axis.
:]
Related honeycombs
It is dual to the omnitruncated cubic honeycomb:
:
See also
* Architectonic and catoptric tessellation
*Cubic honeycomb
The cubic honeycomb or cubic cellulation is the only proper regular space-filling tessellation (or honeycomb) in Euclidean 3-space made up of cubic cells. It has 4 cubes around every edge, and 8 cubes around each vertex. Its vertex figure is a ...
* space frame
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas wit ...
* Triakis truncated tetrahedral honeycomb
References
*, reprinted in .
*.
*{{cite book , last1 = Conway , first1 = John H. , authorlink1 = John Horton Conway , last2 = Burgiel , first2 = Heidi , last3 = Goodman-Strauss , first3 = Chaim , title = The Symmetries of Things , publisher = A K Peters, Ltd. , date = 2008 , chapter = 21. Naming Archimedean and Catalan Polyhedra and Tilings , pages = 292–298 , isbn = 978-1-56881-220-5
Honeycombs (geometry)