Coleoptera
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Co·le·op·te·ra
(kō'lē-op'ter-ă),An order of insects, the beetles, characterized by the possession of a pair of hard, horny wing covers overlying a pair of delicate membranous flying wings; it is the largest of the insect orders with the largest number of species of any animal or plant order.
[G. koleos, sheath + pteron, wing]
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
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Fig. 114 Coleoptera . Generalised structure.
Coleoptera
an order of insects, including beetles and weevils. The forewing is thick, leathery and veinless, and is called an elytrum. When closed, elytra meet along the midline and protect the membranous hindwings, which fold forward. Some of the approximately 280 000 species of Coleoptera are wingless, however. There is a complete METAMORPHOSIS.Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005