Entomology Glossary

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Abdomen - The third (posterior) major division (tagma) of an insect body.

Adecticous pupa - A pupa with immovable mandibles.
Aedeagus - The male copulatory organ, variably constructed (sometimes refers to the penis alone).

Allelochemical - A chemical functioning in interspecific communication; see also Altomone; Kairomone; Pheromone; Synomone.

Allomone - A communication chemical that benefits the producer by the effect it invokes in the receiver.

Altruism - Behavior costly to the individual but beneficial to others.
Ametabolous - Lacking metamorphosis, i.e. with no change in body form during development to adult, with immature stages lacking only genitalia.

Anal - In the direction or position of the anus, near the anus or on the last abdominal segment.

Anal or vannal fold - A distinctive fold in the anal area of wing.

Anamorphic development - Development in which the immature stages have fewer abdominal segments than the adult; see also Epimorphic development.

Antecostal suture - (also intersegmental groove) A groove ??? the junction of ??? the inters??? many segments.

Antenna - (pl. antennae) Paired, segmented, sensory appendages, lying usually anteiodorsally, on the head; derived from the second head segment.

Antennomere - A subdivision of the antenna.

Anterior - At or towards the front.

Anthophilous - Flower-loving.

Anthropogenic - Caused by humans

Anthropophilic - Associated with humans

Antibiosis - A property of an organism that adversely affects the well-being of another organism that consumes it.

Antixenosis - In plant resistance, unsuitability of a plant to a feeding insect.

Anus - The posterior opening of the digestive tract.

Apical - At or towards the apex.

Apod larvaApod larva - A larva lacking true legs.

Apode - (ad. apodous) An organism without legs.

Aposematic - Warning of unpalatability, particularly using color.

Aposematism - A communication system, based on warning signals.

Apterous - Wingless.

Arachnophobia - Fear of arachnids (spiders and relatives).

Aroliar pad - Pretarsal ventral adhesive pad.

Arolium - (pl. arolia) Pretarsal pad-like or sac-like structures) lying between the claws.

Arthrodial membrane - Soft, Stretchable cuticle, e.g. between segments.

Articular sclerites - Separate, small, movable plates that lie between the body and a wing.

Autotomy - The shedding of appendages), notably for defense.

Basal - At or towards either the base or the main body, or closer to point of attachment.

Basalare - (pt. basalaria) A small sclerite, one of the epipleurites that lies anterior to the pleural wing process; an attachment for the direct flight muscles.

Basisternum - The main sclerite of the eusternum, lying between the anterior presternum and posterior sternellum.

Batesian mimicry - A mimetic system in which a palatable species obtains protection from predation by resembling an unpalatable species; see also M¸llerian mimicry.

Benthos - The bottom sediments of aquatic habitats and/or the organisms that live there.

Biological control - (also biocontrol) The human use of selected living organisms to control populations of pest species (plant or animal).

Biological monitoring - Using plants or animals to detect changes in the environment

Bioluminescence - The production by an organism of cold light, commonly involving the action of an enzyme (luciferase) on a substrate (luciferin).

Borer - The maker of burrows in dead or living tissue.

Brachypterous - Having shortened wings.

Brood - A clutch of individuals that hatch at the same time from eggs produced by one set of parents.

Camouflage - Crypsis, in which an organism is indistinguishable from its background.

Campaniform - sensillum A mechanoreceptor that detects stress on the cuticle, comprising a dome of thin cuticle overlying one neurone per sensillum, located especially on joints.

Cantharophily - Plant pollination by beetles.

Cardo - The proximal part of the maxillary base.

Castes - Morphologically distinctive groups of individuals within a single species of social insect, usually differing in behavior.

Caudal - At or towards the anal (tail) end.

Cavernicolous - (also troglodytic; troglobiont) living in caves.

Cecidology - The study of plant galls.

Cecidozoa - Gall-inducing animals.

Cell - Of a wing, an area of the wing membrane partially or completely surrounded by veins; see also Closed cell; Open cell.

Cement layer - The outermost layer of the cuticle, often absent.

Central nervous system - (CNS) In insects, the central series of ganglia extending for the length of the body; see also Brain.

Cephalic - Pertaining to the head.

Cercus - (pl. cerci) One of a pair of appendages originating from abdominal segment 11 but usually visible as if on segment 10.

Cervical sclerite - Small sclerite on the membrane between head and thorax (actually the first thoracic segment).

Chitin - The major component of arthropod cuticle, a polysaccharide composed of subunits of acetyl- glucosamine and glucosamine.

Chrysalis - see Pupa.

Cladistics - A classification system in which clades are the only permissible groupings.

Cladogram - A diagram illustrating the branching sequence of purported relationships of organisms, based on the distribution of shared derived features (synapomorphies). Laval furrow A flexion line on the wing that separates the Claus from the remigium.

Claw - (strictly, pretarsal claw; unguis) A hooked structure on the distal end of the pretarsus, usually paired; more generally, any hooked Structure.

Closed cell - An area of the wing membrane bounded entirely by veins; see also Open cell.

Closed tracheal system - A gas exchange system comprising tracheae and tracheoles but lacking spiracles and therefore closed to direct contact with the atmosphere; see also Open tracheal system.

Clypeus - The part of the insect head to which the labrum is attached anteriorly, it lies below the frons, with which it may be fused in a frontoclypeus or separated by a suture.

Comb - In a social Hymenopteran nest, a layer of regularly arranged cells.

Compound eye - An aggregation of ommatidia, each acting as a single facet of the eye.

Connective - Anything that connects; more specifically, the paired longitudinal nerve cords that connect the ganglia of the central nervous system

Coprophage - (adj. coprophagous) A feeder on dung or excrement.

Corbicula - The pollen basket of bees.

Cotium - A section of the Heteropteran hemelytron (fore wing), differentiated from the Claus and membrane, usually leathery.

Cornea - The cuticle covering the eye or ocellus.

Cornicles - (also siphunculi) A pair of tubes on the abdomen of aphids that discharge defensive secretions, especially alarm pheromones.

Cosmopolitan - Distributed worldwide (or nearly so).

Costa - The most anterior longitudinal wing vein, running along the costal margin of the wing and ending near the apex.

Costal fracture - A break or weakness in the costal margin in Heteroptera that divides the corium, separating the cuneus from the embolium.

Coxa - (pl. coxae) The proximal (basal) leg segment.

Crepuscular - Active at low light intensities, dusk or dawn; see also Diurnal; Nocturnal.

Crochets - Curved hooks, spines or spinules on prolegs.

Crop - The food storage area of the digestive system, posterior to the oesophagus.

Cross-veins - Transverse wing veins that link the longitudinal veins.

Crypsis - Camouflage by resemblance to environmental features.

Cryptic - Hidden, camouflaged, concealed.

Cryptobiosis - The state of a living organism during which there are no signs of life and metabolism virtually ceases.

Cryptonephric system - A condition of the excretory system in which the Malpighian tubules form an intricate contact with the rectum, allowing production of dry excreta (Box 3.4).

Ctenidium - Comb.

Cubitus - (Cu) The sixth longitudinal vein, lying posterior to the media, often divided into an anterior branched CuA and I posterior unbranched Cup.

Cuneus - The distal section of the coriuni ill tllo Heteropteran wing, separated from the embolium by a costal fracture.

Cursorial - Running or adapted for running.

Cuticle - The external skeletal structure, secreted by the epidermis, composed of chitin and protein comprising several differentiated layers.

Decticous pupa - An exarate pupa in which the mandibles are articulated.

Delusory parasitosis - A psychotic illness in which parasitic infection is imagined.

Detritivore - (adj. detritivorous) An eater of organic detritus of plant or animal origin.

Dorsal - On the upper surface.

Dorsal closure - The embryological process in which the dorsal wall of an embryo is formed by growth of the germ band to surround the yolk.

Dorsum - The upper surface.

Drone - The male bee, especially of honey bees and humble bees, derived from an unfertilized egg.

Eclosion - The release of the adult insect from the cuticle of the previous instar, sometimes used of hatching from the egg,

Eclosion hormone - A neuropeptide with several functions associated with adult eclosion including increasing cuticle extensibility.

Ectognathous - with exterior mouthparts.

Ectoparasite - A parasite that lives externally on, and at the expense of, another, which it does not kill.

Elytron - (pl. elytra) The modified, hardened fore wing of ,I beetle that -protects the hind wing.

Empodium - A ceiitiii piiie or pad on the pretarslis of Diptera.

Endocuticle - The flexible, unsclerotized inner layer of the procuticle; see also Exocuticle.

Entognathous - with internal mouthparts

Endoparasite - A parasite that lives internally at the expense of another, which it does not kill.

Endopterygote - Development in which the wings form within pockets of the integument, with eversion taking place only at the larval-pupal molt (as in the monophyletic grouping EndoPterygota).

Entomophage - (adj. entomophagous) An eater of insects.

Entomophily - Pollination by insects.

Entomophobia - Fear of insects.

Enzootic - A disease present in a natural A disease present in a natural host within its natural range.

Epicranial suture - A Y-shaped line of weakness on the vertex of the head where the split at molting occurs.

Epicuticle - The inextensible and unsupportive outermost layer of cuticle, lying outside the procuticle.

Epidemic - The spread of a disease from its endemic area and/or from its normal host.

Epidermis - The unicellular layer of ectodermally derived integument that secretes the cuticle.

Epimeron - (pl. epimera) The posterior division of the pleuron of a thorax, separated from the episternum by the pleural suture .

Epipharynx - The ventral surface of the labrum, a membranous roof to the mouth .

Epiproct - Dorsal relic of segment 11.

Eusocial - Exhibiting co-operation in reproduction and division of labor, with overlap of generations.

Exarate pupa - A pupa in which the appendages are free from the body, as opposed to being cemented; see also Obtect pupa.

Excretion - The elimination of metabolic wastes from the body, or their internal storage in an insoluble form.

Exopterygote development - Development in which the wings form progressively in sheaths that lie externally on the dorsal or dorsolateral surface of the body (as in the paraphyletic grouping ExoPterygota).

Exoskeleton - The external, hardened cuticular skeleton to which Muscles are attached posterially . I.\tra- ??? digestion??? into ??? digestive Products being

Exuviae - (siii . and 1)1.) Tire cuticle cast off after a insult.

Femur - (pl. femora) The third segment of an insect leg, following the coxa and trochanter; often the stoutest leg segment.

File - A toothed or ridged structure used in sound production by stridulation through contact with a scraper.

Filiform - Describes antennae comprised of long strings of bead-like segments.

Filter chamber - Part of the alimentary canal of many Hemipterans, in which the anterior and posterior parts of the midgut are in intimate contact; a system in which most fluid by passes the absorptive midgut

Fitness - (Darwinian; inclusive, extended) The contribution of an individual to the gene pool through its offspring (Darwinian) or by enhanced success of its kin (inclusive, extended).

Flagellum - The third part of an antenna, distal to the scape and pedicel; more generally, any whip or whip- like structure.

Forage - To seek and gather food.

Fore - Anterior, towards the head.

Fore wings - The anterior pair of wings, usually on the mesothorax.

Foregut - (also stomodeum) The part of the gut that lies between the mouth and the midgut, derived from the ectoderm.

Forensic entomologist - A scientist who studies the role of insects in legal matters.

Formulation - The components and proportions of additional substances that accompany an insecticide when prepared for application.

Fossorial - Digging, or adapted for digging.

Frass Solid - excreta of an insect, particularly a larva.

Frenulum - Spines or bristles on the costa of the hind wing that lock with the fore-wing retinaculum in flight.

Frons - The single medio-anterior sclerite of the insect head, usually lying between the epicranium and the clypeus.

Frontoclypeus - The combined frons and clypeus.

Frontoclypeal - (at- epistomal) suture A groove that runs across the insect's face, often separating irons from clypeus.

Galea - The lateral lobe of the maxillary stip".

Gall - An aberrant plant growth Produced in response to the activities of another organism, often an insect.

Gas exchange - The system of oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide elimination.

Gas gills - Specific respiratory (gas exchange) surfaces on aquatic insects, often as abdominal lamellae, but may be present almost anywhere on the body.

GasterGaster - The swollen part of the abdomen of aculeate Hymenoptera, lying posterior to the petiole.

Gena - (pli. genae) Literally, a cheek; on each side of the head, the part lying beneath the compound eye.

Gill - A gas exchange organ, found it-, various forms in aquatic insects.

Gizzard - see Proventriculus.

Glossa - (pl- glossae) The 'tongue', one of a pair of lobes on the inner apex of the prementum.

Gregarious - Forming aggregations.

Gressorial - Walking, or adapted for walking,

Gula - A ventromedian sclerotized plate on the head of prognathous insects.

Gyne - A reproductive female Hymenopteran, a queen.

Haemocoel - (also hemocoel) ??? cavity of many invertebrates, including insects, formed from in expanded ??? system,

Haemocyte - (also hemocyte) Insect blood cells.

Hemolymph - (also hemolymph) The fluid filling the haemocoel.

Hair - A cuticular extension, also called a macrottichium or seta.

Haltere - The modified hind wing in Diptera, acting as a balancer.

Haplodiploidy - (adj. haplodiploid) A sex determination system in which diploid eggs give rise to females, haploid ones to males.

Haploid - With one set of chromosomes

Head - The anterior of the three major divisions (tagmata) of an insect body.

Hellgrammite - The larva of Megaloptera

Hemelytron - (pl. hemelytra) The fore wing of Heteroptera, with thickened basal section and membranous apical section.

Hemimetaboly - With development in which the body form gradually changes at each molt, with wing buds growing larger at each molt; incomplete metamorphosis; see also Holometaboly.

Hermaphroditism - Having individuals that possess both testes and ovaries.

Heteromorphosis - (also hypermetamorphosis) Undergoing a major chance in morphology between larval instars, as from triungulin to grub.

Hind - At or towards the posterior.

Hind wings - The wings on the metathoracic segment.

Hindgut - (also proctodeum) The posterior section of the gut, extending from the end of the midgut to the anus.

Holoblastic - In embryology, a complete cleavage of the egg.

Holometaboly - (adj. holometabolous) With development in which the body form abruptly change,-, at the pupal molt; complete metamorphosis, as in the group Holometabola; see also Hemimetaboly.

Homology - (adj. homologous) Morphological identify or similarity of a structure in two (or more) organisms due to common evolutionary origin.

Honeydew - A watery fluid containing sugars eliminated from the anus of some Hemiptera.

Hormone - A chemical messenger that regulates some activity at a distance from the endocrine organ that produced it.

Host - An organism that harbors another, especially a parasite or parasitoid, either internally Or externally.

Imago - (pl. imagines, imagoes) The adult insect.

Immediate effect - Of a defensive chemical, an effect that appears immediately on first encounter; see also Delayed effect.

Industrial melanism - The phenomenon of dark morphs occurring with a higher than usual frequency in areas in which industrial pollution darkens tree trunks and other surfaces upon which insects may rest.

Inquiline - An organism that lives in the home of another, sharing food, in entomology, used particularly of residents in the nests of social insects, or in plant galls induced by another organism; see also Integrated inquiline; Non-integrated inquiline.

Insectivore - (adj. insectivorous), (also entomophage) An insect eater.

Instar - The growth stage between two successive molts.

Integument - The epidermis plus cuticle; the outer covering of the living tissues of an insect.

Membrane - between segment,,, particularly of the abdomen.

Juvenile hormone - (JH) A 16, 17 or 18 C-chain hormone released by the corpora allata into the hemolymph, involved in many aspects of insect physiology, including modification of the expression of a molt.

Kairomone - A communication chemical that benefits the receiver and is disadvantageous to the producer see also Allomone; Synomone.

Kinesis - (pl. kineses) Movement of an organism in response to a stimulus, usually restricted to response to stimulus intensity only.

King - The male primary reproductive in termites.

Klinotaxis - A movement in a definite direction relative to a stimulus, either directly towards or away from the source.

Labella - (sing. labellum) In certain flies, paired lobes at the apex of the proboscis, derived from labial palps (Box 14.4).

Labial palp - A 1-5-segmented appendage of the labium.

Labium - (adj. labial) The 'lower lip', forming the floor of the mouth, often with a pair of palps and two pairs of median lobes and 2.10); derived from the sixth head segment.

Labrum - (adj. labral) The 'upper lip', forming the roof of the preoral cavity and mouth; derived from the first head segment.

Lacinia - The mesal lobe of the maxillary stipes.

Lavra - (pl. larvae) An immature insect after emerging from the egg, often restricted to insects in which there is complete metamorphosis (holometaboly) but sometimes used for any immature insect that differs strongly from its adult; see also Nymph.

Lentic - Of standing water.

Ligation - An experimental technique which isolates one part of the body of a living insect from another, usually by tightening a ligature.

Litter - A laver of dead leaves overlying the soil.

Longitudinal - In the direction of tile long of the body.

Longitudinal muscles - Muscles running,,along the long axis of the body.

Lotic - Of flowing water.

Macrophage - An eater of large particles; see also Microphage.

Maggot - A legless larval insect, usually with a reduced head, frequently a fly.

Major worker - An individual of the largest sized worker caste of termites and ants, specialized for defense; see also Media worker; Minor worker.

Mandible - (adj. mandibular) The jaws, either jaw-like in shape in biting and chewing (mandibulate) insects, or modified as narrow stylets in piercing and sucking insects; the first pair of jaws; derived from the fourth head segment.

Mandibulate - Possessing mandibles.

Masquerade - A form of crypsis in which an organism resembles a feature of its environment that is of no interest to a predator; also called ???.

Maxilla - (pl. Maxillae); derived from the fifth head segment,

Maxillary palp - A 1-7-segmented sensory appendage borne on the stipes of the maxilla. Major worker; Minor worker

Medial - Towards the middle.

Median - At or towards the middle.

Melanism - Darkening due to increased pigmentation.

Mesosoma - the fusion of the first abdominal segment with the thorax in Apocrita (Hymenoptera) which makes it appear as if the first abdominal segment is part of the thorax, and not the abdomen. Thus, what appears to be the thorax in Apocrita is actually a compound structure formed by the thorax and the first abdominal segment. The apparent abdomen is correctly termed the metasoma or gaster.

Metamorphosis - change in body form between the end of maturity development and the onset of tire in imago (adult) phase.

Metasoma - In Apocrital Hymenoptera, the petiole plus gaster; the posterior principle division of the insect body, in most insect groups being strictly equivalent to the abdomen, in adult Apocrita <../Taxa/Hymenoptera/Apocrita/SuborderApocritaPage.htm> (Hymenoptera)

Metasoma -

Metathorax - The third (and last) segment of the thorax.

Microphage - A feeder on small particles, such as spores.

Midgut - The middle section of the gut, extending from the end of the proventriculus to the Start of the ileum.

Migration - Mass movement, usually in search of more appropriate conditions.

Mimesis - Resemblance to an inedible object in the environment; see also Masquerade

Mimic - (aI. mimetic) One of the three components of a mimicry system, the emitter of false signal(s) received by an observer; an individual, population or species that resembles a model, usually another species or part thereof; see also Automimic; Batesian mimicry; M¸llerian mimicry.

Mimicry - The resemblance of a mimic to a called the alitrunk in adult ants, model, by which the mimic derives protection from predation provided to the model (e.g. by unpalatabilitv).

Mesothorax - The second (and middle) segment of the thorax.

Minor worker - the smallest-sized worker caste of ants; see also Major worker; Media worker -

Model - One of the three components of a mimicry system, the emitter of signal(s) received by the observer; the organism resembled by a mimic, protected from predation, for example, by distastefulness.

Monophage - (adj. monophagous) An eater of only one kind of food, used particularly of specialized phytophages.

Morph - A genetic form or variant.

Molting - The formation of new cuticle followed by ecdysis .

Mouthhooks - The head skeleton of the maggot larva of higher flies.

Multiporous - Having several small openings.

Mullerian mimicry - A mimetic system in which two or more unpalatable species benefit by appearing to be the other unpalatable species.

Mycophage - (adj. mycophagous) An eater of fungi; see also Fungivore.

Myiasis - Disease or injury caused by feeding of larval flies on live flesh, of humans or other animals.

Myophily - Plant pollination by flies.

Naiad - An alternative name for the immature stages of aquatic hemimetabolous insects; see also Nymph; Larva.

Natatorial - Swimming.

Necrophage - (adj. necrophagous) An eater of dead and/or decaying animals.

Nocturnal - Active at night; see also Crepuscular; Diurnal.

Notum - (pl. nota) A thoracic tergum.

Nuiliparous - A female that has laid no eggs.

Nymph - An immature insect after emerging from the egg, usually restricted to insects in which there is incomplete metamorphosis (hemimetaboly); see also Larva.

Obtect pupa - A pupa with body appendages fused (cemented) to the body, not free (Fi,. 6.7). see also Exarate pupa,

Ocellus (pl.,ocelli) - in adult insects, simple eye consisting of a single beadlike lens, occurring singly or in small groups; the 'simple' eye of adult and nymphal insects, typically three in a triangle on the vertex.

Occiput - The dorsal part of the posterior cranium.

Ommatidium - (pl. omrnatidia) A single element of the compound eye.

Ontogeny - The development from egg to adult.

Oocyst - A stage in the sexual cycle of a malaria parasite (Plasmodiuin spp.) within the mosquito midgut lining, formed from the ookinete and which undergoes sporogony (asexual reproduction).

Oocyte - An immature egg cell formed from the oogonium within the ovariole.

Open cell - An area of the wing membrane partially bounded by veins but including part of the wing margin.

Open tracheal system - tracheal and tracheoles and with spiracular contact with the atmospherr; See also Closed tracheal system.

Oral - (or stomodeal) trophallaxis In social and subsocial insects, the transfer of nutritive fluid from the mouth to another individual; may be mutual or unidirectional.

Orthokinesis - A response to a stimulus in which the rate of response (such as speed of movement) is positively proportional to the intensity of the stimulus.

Osmeterium - (pl. osmeteria) An eversible tubular pouch on the prothorax of some larval swallowtail butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae), used to disseminate volatile toxic, defensive compounds.

Ovary - One of the paired gonads of female insects, each comprising several ovarioles.

Ovariole - One of several ovarian tubes that of a geriliariuni, a vitellarium ??? pedicel 1.

Oviparous - Reproduction in which eggs if laid.

Ovipositor - The organ used for laying eggs; also Appendicular ovipositor; Substutional ovipositor.

Ovoviviparity - Retention of the developing fertilized egg within the mother, considered to be a form of viviparity but in which there is no nutrition of the hatched young; see also Oviparity.

Paedogenesis - (adj. paedogenetic) Reproduction in an immature stage.

Palp - (also palpus, pl. palpi) Finger-like, usually segmented appendage of the maxilla (maxillary palp) and labium (labial palp).

Paraglossa - (pl. paraglossae) One of a pair of lobes distolateral on the prementum of the labium, lying outside the glossae, but mesal to the labial palp.

Paraproct - Ventral relics of segment 11.

Parasite - An organism that lives at the expense of another (host) which it does not usually kill; see also Ectoparasite; Endoparasite; Parasitoid.

Parasitized - The state of a host that supports a parasitoid or parasite.

Parasitoid - A parasite that kills its host; see also Ectoparasitoid; Endoparasitoid.

Parthenogenesis - Development from an unfertilized egg; see also Amphitoky; Arrhenotokous parthenogenesis; Paedogenesis; Thelytoky.

Pedicel <pedicel.jpg> - The stem or stalk of an organ; the stalk of an ovariole; the second antennal segment; the 'waist' of an ant.

Penis (pl. penes) - also phallus The median intromittent organ, variously derived in different insect orders.

Petiole A stalk; in Apocrital Hymenoptera; the narrow second (and sometimes third abdominal segments that precede the gaster, forming the 'waist' (Box 11.3).

Phallus, see Penis.

Pharate Within the cuticle of the previous stage, 'cloaked'.

Pheromone - A chemical used in communication between individuals of the same species, releasing a specific behavior or development in the receiver; pheromones play roles in aggregation, alarm, courtship, queen recognition, sex, sex attraction, spacing (epideictic or dispersion) and trailmarking.

Phytophage - (adj. phytophagous) An eater of plants.

Phytophagy - the eating of plants.

Plumose - feathery, usually describes antennae.

Poison glands - Accessory glands that produce poison, as in the stings of Hymenoptera.

Pollination - The transfer of pollen from male to female flower parts.

Polyethism - Within a social insect caste, the division of labor either by specialization throughout the life of ,in individual or by different ages performing different tasks.

Polymorphic - Of a species, existing in two or more genetic variants (morphs).

Polyphage - (adj. polyphagous) An eater of many kinds of food, e.g. many plant species from a range of families; used particularly of phytophages.

Polypod larva - A type of larva with jointed legs on the thorax and prolegs on the abdomen (Fig. 6.6).

Posterior - At or towards the rear.

Postnotum - The posterior part of a pterothoracic notum, bearing the ??? that support longitudinal muscles.

Postocciput - The posterior rim of the head behind the postoccipital suture.

Precosta - The most anterior wing vein.

Predation - Preying on other organisms.

Predator - An organism that eats more than one other organism during its life; see also Parasitoid.

Prementum - The free distal end of the labium, usually bearing labial palps, glossae and paraglossae .

Primary reproductives - In termites, the king and queen founders of a colony.

Proboscis - A general term for elongate mouthparts; see also Rostrum.

Proleg - An unsegmented leg of a larva.

Pronotum - The upper (dorsal) plate of the prothorax.

Prothorax - The first segment of the thorax.

Proventriculus - (also gizzard) The grinding organ of the foregut.

Proximal - The part of an appendage closer to or at the body (opposite to distal).

Pseudergate - In lower termites the equivalent to the worker caste, comprising immature nymphs or undifferentiated larvae.

Pupa - (adj. pupal) The inactive sta-e between larva and adult in holometabolous insects; also termed a chrysalis in butterflies.

Puparium - The hardened skin of the final instar larva (higher Diptera, Strepsiptera) or last nymphal instar (Aleyrodidae), in which the pupa forms.

Pupation - Becoming a pupa.

Radius - In wing venation, the fourth longitudinal vein, posterior to the subcosta; with a maximum of six branches.

Raptorial - Adapted for capturing prey by grasping.

Rectal pad - Thickened sections of the epithelium of the rectum involved in water uptake from the feces.

Rectum - (adj. rectal) The posterior part of the hindgut .

Refuge - A safe place.

Release - Specifically, to stimulate a particular behavior.

Replete - An individual ant in which is ??? by liquid food.

Reservoir - Of diseases, the natural host and Geographic range.

Resistance - The ability to withstand (e.g, insecticides).

Respiration - A metabolic process in which substrates (food) are oxidized using molecular oxygen; also used inappropriately to mean breathing, as through spiracles or gas exchange across thin cuticle,

Riparian - Riverside.

Rostrum - A facial extension that bears the mouthparts at the end (Boxes 10.8 and 14.4(-,I)); see also Proboscis.

Salivarium or salivary reservoir - The cavity into which the salivary gland opens, between the hypopharynx and the labium.

Salivary gland - The gland that produces saliva.

Saltatorial - Adapted for Jumping Or springing.

Saprophage - (adj. saprophagous) An eater of decaying organisms.

Scale Flattened setae - (unicellular outgrowths of the cuticle).

Scape - The first segment of the antenna.

Sclerite - A plate on the body wall surrounded by membrane or sutures.

Sclerotization - Stiffening of the cuticle by cross-linkage of protein chains.

Scraper - The ridged surface drawn over a file to produce stridulatory sounds.

Scutellum - The posterior third of the alinokum (either meso- or metanotum), lying behind the scutum.

Scutum - The middle third of the alinotum (.either meso- or metanotum), in front of the scutellum.

Secondary plant compounds - Plant chemicals assumed to be produced for defensive purposes.

Secondary segmentation - Any segmentation that fails to match the embryonic segmentation; more specifically, the insect external skeleton in which each apparent segment includes the posterior (intersegmental) parts of the primary segment preceding it.

Sector - A major wing-vein branch and all of its subdivisions.

Semi-aquatic - Living in saturated soils, but not immersed in free water.

Semisocial Social - behavior in which individuals of the same generation co-operate and nest-share with some division of reproductive labor,

Sensillum - (pl. sensilla) A sense organ, either simple and isolated, or part of a more complex organ.

Serial homology - The occurrence of identically derived features on different segments of the same insect.

Seta - (pl. setae) - hair; a sclerotized hairlike projection of cuticula arising from a single trichogen cell and surrounded at the base by a small cuticular ring; A cuticular extension, a trichoid sensillum; also called a hair or macrotrichium.

Smell - the olfactory sense, the detection of airborne chemicals.

Sociality - The condition of living in an organized community.

Soldier - In social insects, an individual worker belonging to a subcaste involved in colony defense.

Solitary - Non-colonial, occurring singly or in pairs.

Species - (adj. specific) A group of alike individuals that can interbreed, matin-,within the group (sharing a gene pool) and producing fertile offspring, usually similar in appearance and behavior - but see also Polymorphic - and sharing a common evolutionary history.

Sperm precedence - The preferential use by the female of the sperm of one mating over others.

Spermatheca - The female receptacle for sperm deposited during mating.

Spine - A multicellular unjointed cuticular extension, often thornlike.

Spiracle - An external opening of the tracheal system.

Startle display - A display made by some cryptic insects upon discovery, involving exposure of a startling color or pattern, such as eye spots.

Sternum - (pl. sterna; adj. sternal, adj. sternite) The ventral surface of a segment.

Stridulation - The production of sound b, rubbing two rough or ridged surfaces together,

Stylet - One of the elongate parts of piercing/ sucking mouthpartd, a needle-like structure.

Stylus (pl. styli) - a small, pointed, non-moving process

Subcosta - In wing venation, the third longitudinal vein, posterior to the costa.

Subimago - (also subimaginal instar) In Ephemeroptera, the winged penultimate instar; subadult.

Subsocial - A social system in which adults look after immature stages for a certain period,

Succession - An ecological sequence.

Suture - An external groove that may show the fusion of two plates.

Symbiont - An organism that lives in symbiosis with another.

Symbiosis - A long-lasting, close and dependent relationship between organisms of two different species.

Synanthropic - Associated with humans or their dwellings

Synomone - A communication chemical that benefits both the receiver and the producer; see also Allomone; Kairomone.

Systematics - The science of biological classification.

Tagma - (pl. tagmata) The group of segments that form a major body unit (head, thorax, abdomen).

Tagmosis - The organization of the body into major units (head, thorax, abdomen)

Tarsomere - A subdivision of the tarus.

Tarsus - (pl. tarsi) The leg segment distal to the tibia, comprising one to five tarsomeres and apically bearing the pretarsus.

Taste - Chemoreceptor of chemicals in a liquid dissolved form.

Taxis - (pl. taxes) An orientated movement of an organism.

Taxon - (pl. taxa) Any taxonomic unit (species, genus, family, phylum, etc.).

Taxonomy - (adj. taxonomic) The theory and practice of naming and classifying organisms.

Tegmen - (pl. tegmina) A leathery, hardened fore wing.

Tergum - (pl. terga; adj. tergal; sing, tergite) The dorsal surface of a segment.

tegmina -

Terminalia - The terminal abdominal segments involved in the formation of the genitalia.

Thanatosis - Feigning death.

Thorax - The middle of the three major divisions (tagma) of the body, comprising pro-, meso- and metathorax.

Threshold - The minimum level of stimulus required to initiate (release) a response.

Tibia - (pl. tibiae) The fourth leg segment, following the femur.

Trachea - (pl. tracheae) A tubular element of the insect gas exchange system, within which air moves.

Tracheal system - The insect gas exchange system, comprising tracheae and tracheoles.

Tracheal - The fine tubules of the insect gas exchange system.

Transverse - At right angles to the longitudinal axis.

Triungulin - An active, dispersive first-instar larva of insects including many that undergo hvpermetamorphosis.

Trochanter - the second leg segment, following the coxa.

Tympanum - (pl. tympana) or tympanal organ Any organ sensitive to vibration, comprising a tympanic membrane (thin cuticle), an air sac and a chordotonal sensory organ attached to the tympanal membrane .

Vagina - A paycheck or tubular genital chamber of the female genitalia

Valve - Generally, any unidirectional opening flap or li-I; in female genitalia, the blade-like structures comprising the ovipositor shaft (also called gonapophysis).

Vector - Literally a bearer; specifically a host of a disease transmissible to another species of organism.

Ventral - Towards or at the lower surface .

Viviparity - The bearing of live young (i.e. post-egg hatching) by the female; see also Adenotrophic viviparity; Haemocoelous viviparity; Ovoviviparity; Pseudoplacental viviparity.

Voltinism - The number of generations per year.

Wax - A complex lipid mixture giving waterproofing to the cuticle, providing covering, or building material.

Wax layer - The lipid or waxy layer outside file epicuticle; may be absent

Weed - Any plant in the wrong place, particularly used of plants away from their natural range, or invading human monocultural crops.

Wood borer - An insect that tunnels into live or dead wood.

Worker - In social insects, a member of the sterile caste that assists the reproductives.

Xylophage - (adj. xylophagous) An eater of wood,

Zoophilic - Preferring other animals to humans,,especially used of feeding preference of blood-feeding insects.

Zygote - A fertilized egg; in malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.) resulting from fusion of a microgamete and macrogamete.