LEPIDOPTERA • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Lepidoptera

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noun

Lepidoptera n. pl. (Zool.) An order of insects, which includes the butterflies and moths. They have broad wings, covered with minute overlapping scales, usually brightly colored. Note: They have a tubular proboscis, or haustellum, formed by the two slender maxillae. The labial palpi are usually large, and the proboscis, when not in use, can be coiled up spirally between them. The mandibles are rudimentary. The larvae, called caterpillars, are often brightly colored, and they commonly feed on leaves. The adults feed chiefly on the honey of flowers.

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Etymology of 'Lepidoptera'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lepidoptera" Quotes from Famous Books

... of the Zoea-brood to the sexually mature animal was traced by Spence Bate in Carcinus maenas. He proved that the metamorphosis is a perfectly gradual one, and that no sharply separated stages of development, like the caterpillar and pupa of the Lepidoptera, could be defined in it. Unfortunately we possess only this single complete series of observations, and its results cannot be regarded at once as universally applicable; thus the young Hermit Crabs retain the general aspect ...

— Facts and Arguments for Darwin • Fritz Muller

... that I propose to do so. We may in our humble way do something to make things more easy for him until he becomes accustomed to his new surroundings. Will you come upstairs, Dr. Watson, and inspect my collection of Lepidoptera? I think it is the most complete one in the south-west of England. By the time that you have looked through them ...

— Hound of the Baskervilles • Authur Conan Doyle

... from South America with the beetle there; look at him! These Lepidoptera are for children to play with, pretty to look at, so some think. Give me the Coleoptera, and the kings of the Coleoptera are the beetles! Lepidoptera and Neuroptera for little folks; Coleopteras for ...

— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

Words linked to "Lepidoptera" : family Satyridae, class Insecta, Hexapoda, Pyralidae, Sphingidae, family Geometridae, superfamily Tineoidea, Danaidae, lepidopteron, family Pieridae, Insecta, Lycaenidae, family Pyralididae, Pieridae, Lymantriidae, Gelechiidae, family Nymphalidae, family Sphingidae, Pyralididae, family Pyralidae, caterpillar, family Danaidae, Lasiocampidae, lepidopteran, family Lymantriidae, Geometridae, Tortricidae, Tineoidea, family Noctuidae, class Hexapoda