Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology

Chapter 17

Chapter 173,601 wordsPublic domain

Tunica propria: a layer of epithelial cells and connective tissue lining the interior of the hind gut: the outer layer of the silk glands: a covering or investing membrane.

Tunicate: composed of concentric layers, enveloping one another: said of antennae when each successive joint is buried in the preceding funnel-shaped one.

Turbinate: top-shaped; nearly conical: differs from pyriform in being shorter and more suddenly attenuated at base: applied to an eye = pillared eye; q.v.

Turgid: swollen.

Turritus: towering: a surface rising cone-like.

Tylo: = tylus; q.v.

Tylus: the anterior central lobe of the head in Hemiptera.

Tympana: the ears in Orthoptera.

Tympanal: applied to organs covered with a tympanum or stretched membrane supposed to function as ears.

Tympanic spiracle: in Diptera, the thoracic spiracle at base of wing.

Tympanules: small openings covered by a membrane, having otoliths and serving as ears.

Tympanum: any membrane stretched like the head of a drum: specifically applied to the membrane covering the auditory organs in Orthoptera.

Type: a unique or single specimen selected from a series and labelled by the describer to represent his name and description: if male or female be added to the label, the specimen typifies that sex, and in case of an erroneous association the male type stands for the species unless the author has specifically designated the other example as representing the name: see also co-type; homotype; meta-type; paratype; topotype.

Typical: the normal or usual form of a species; agreeing with the type form.

U

Uliginous: muddy, or pertaining to mud.

Ulnar: in Homoptera, a wing vein between the radial vein and claval suture; = cubitus: in Orthoptera, = cubitus; q.v.

Ulnar area: in Orthoptera, = median area; q.v.

Ulona: the thick, fleshy mouth parts of Orthoptera.

Ulonata: a Fabrician. term for Orthoptera, based on the character of the mouth structures.

Ultimate: last or final: that larval stage just before pupation.

Ultramarine: an intense deep blue [cobalt blue].

Ultra-nodal sector: in Odonata, runs parallel with and between media 1 and 2, or principal and nodal sectors: = postnodal sector.

Umbilicate: navel-shaped, or resembling a navel.

Umbilicus: a navel, or navel-like depression.

Umbonate: bossed; with an elevated knob in the centre.

Umbone: an embossed, elevated knob situated on humeral angle of elytra.

Umbones: two movable spines on the sides of prothorax in some Coleoptera.

Umbrosa: shaded or clouded: a cloud or shade.

Unarmed: without spurs, spines or armature of any kind.

Unarticulate: not jointed nor segmented.

Unci: thick, hooked processes, forming the borders of the anal opening.

Uncinnate: hooked at the end.

Uncus: in Lepidoptera, Diptera, and elsewhere, the curved book directed downward from a triangular dorsal plate in the male and shielding the penis: the genital hamule.

Undate: wavy or waved.

Undulated: obtusely waved in segments of circles.

Unequal: unlike in size, form, development or other characters.

Ungues: the tarsal claws.

Unguiculate: armed with a hook, nail or claw.

Unguiculus: a small terminal claw or nail-like process.

Unguis: one of the claws at the end of the tarsus: also applied to a short process on the 6th antennal joint in some Aphids.

Ungula: a hoof, claw or talon.

Ungulate: shaped like a hoof.

Uni-: one, a combining form.

Unicolorous: of one color throughout.

Unidentate: with one tooth only.

Uniplicate: with a single fold or line of folding.

Unique: one only: unlike any other.

Unisexual: of one sex only: applied to Aphids and Cynipids where only parthenogenic females are known.

Upper austral zone: is divided into an eastern humid or Carolinian area, and a western arid or upper Sonoran area, which pass insensibly into each other near the 100th meridian: see Carolinian and upper Sonoran.

Upper field: in tegmina, = anal field; q.v.

Upper margin: of tegmina (Thomas), corresponds to the posterior or anal margin of most authors.

Upper median area: see areola.

Upper radial: in Lepidoptera, = media 1 (Comst.), and is vein 5, or the independent, of the numerical series.

Upper sector of triangle: in Odonata, = cubitus 1 (Comst.).

Upper Sonoran faunal area: that arid part of upper austral west of 100th meridian; covers most of plains in eastern Montana and Wyoming, s. w. South Dakota, west. Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and east. Colorado and New Mexico; covers plains of Columbia, Malheur and Harney in Oregon and Washington. In California encircles Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and forms a narrow belt around Colorado and Mohave deserts. In Utah covers Salt Lake and Sevier deserts. In Idaho the Snake plains. In Nevada and Arizona irregular areas of suitable elevation.

Uranidin: a yellow coloring matter in some Coleoptera and Lepidoptera.

Urceolate: pitcher-shaped; swelling in the middle.

Ureter: the stalk connecting the malpighian tubules, when they form large tufts, with the intestine.

Uric acid: the characteristic nitrogenous excretion of the malpighian or urinary tubules: composition, C5H4N4O3 (von Furth).

Urinary vessels: = malpighian tubules; q.v.: has also been applied by older authors, to anal glands.

Urite: an abdominal segment and, specifically, its ventral portion.

Uromere: any of the abdominal segments of an arthropod.

Uropoda: any of the abdominal feet of arthropods.

Uropygium: the ovipositor when it is a mere extension of the abdominal segments.

Urosome: the abdomen.

Urosternite: the sternal or under piece of the uromeres.

Urticating: nettling; applied to specialized hairs or processes on the bodies of certain caterpillars, which cause a stinging or burning sensation on the skin.

Ustulatus: scorched: applied to a maculation that has the appearance of having been burned in.

Uterus: the vaginal portion of oviduct: the sometimes enlarged portion of the vagina at junction of the oviducts: = calyx, q.v.

Uterus masculinus: a pouch or sac into which the ductus ejaculatorius opens in the Symphyla.

Utriculi breviores: small vesicular sacs connected with the seminal vesicles in crickets and some other insects.

Utriculi majores: large vesicular sacs or tubular structures connected with the seminal vesicles in crickets and some other insects.

Utriculus: a little bag or hollow vesicle.

V

Vacuolate: with vacuoles or small cavities, empty or filled with a watery fluid.

Vagina: the tubular structure formed by the union of the oviducts in the female, opening externally to admit the passage of the egg to the ovipositor: receives the penis of the male in copulation and is sometimes called oviduct: "every part, the office of which is to cover, protect or defend the tongue": "the bivalve coriaceous sheath or cover of the spicula": generally, a sheath.

Vaginata: sheathed: an obsolete ordinal term for Coleoptera.

Vaginate: inclosed in a bivalved sheath.

Vagus: sympathetic nervous system; q.v.

Valgate: enlarged at bottom: club-footed.

Valve or Valvulae: the expanded plate-like galea of the maxilla in many Hymenoptera.

Valve: a small, transverse or triangular piece behind the last full ventral segment, at base of plates in male Jassidae and allies.

Valves: in Orthoptera, the corneous pieces of the ovipositor:= corniculi in Lepidoptera, sometimes used to = harpes; q.v.

Valvula = vagina in its application to Dipterous mouth parts.

Valvulae: in Hymenoptera, branches of the genital forceps of male.

Valvular: when two parts join so as to form a valve between them.

Valvular process: in Odonata, a slender, unjointed process at the apex of each genital valve.

Valvule: any small, valve-like process.

Variation: a departure in color or form, from the normal: the sum of the departures from a mean type of any species: it is continuous when there is no break between the extremes; discontinuous when there are gaps without intermediate forms.

Variety: any departure from the normal type of a species which, while retaining the specific characters, is yet recognizably different because of climatic, seasonal or other influences; may occur with the type form or as a geographical race.

Variola: a deep, rounded impression with defined edges.

Variolate -ose: with large, rounded impressions like pock-marks.

Vas deferens: = vasa deferentia, q.v.

Vasa deferentia: tubes from the seminal vesicles or testes of each side, which usually unite into a single ductus ejaculatorius; q.v.

Vasa varicosa: the malpighian tubules.

Vascular: relating to the blood-vessels or circulatory system.

Vasiform orifice: in Aleurodidae, an ovate, triangular or semicircular opening on the dorsum of the last abdominal segment.

Veinlets: in Orthoptera, are the minute transverse ribs or ridges between the longitudinal veins.

Veins: the chitinous, rod-like structures supporting the wings, and especially those extending longitudinally from base to the outer margin nerves nervures; nervules.

Velum: a membranous appendage of the spurs at the apex of anterior tibia in bees a broad process at inner end of fore tibia.

Velum penis: the thin membranous covering of the male intromittent organ also applied to ether covering or shield-like structures of the penis.

Velutinous: velvety: clothed with dense, soft, short hair, like velvet.

Vena: a vein.

Vena dividens: that longitudinal vein of secondaries that marks the beginning of the anal area: = anal 1 (Comst.).

Vena plicata: on the wings of Dermaptera, the vein around which the folding occurs.

Vena spuria: = spurious vein: q.v.

Venation: the system of chitinous frame-work supporting the wings: in Lepidoptera, the veins are usually referred to by numbers which are as follows: on primaries: 1 = anal; 2 = cubitus 2; 3 = cubitus 1: 4 = media 3; 5 = media 2; 6 = media 1; 7 = radius 5; 8 = radius 4; 9 = radius 3; 10 = radius 2; 11 = radius 1; 12 = subcosta: on secondaries: 1, 1a, 1b = anal; 2 = Cubitus; 3 = cubitus 1; 4 = media 3: 5 = media 2; 6 = media 1; 7 = radius 1; 8 = sub-costa. See plate III for typical venations of all orders.

Venter: the belly: under surface of abdomen as a whole and of each ring.

Ventose: inflated; puffed out.

Ventrad: extending or directed toward the under side.

Ventral: pertaining to the under surface of abdomen: in Diptera, that face of the leg which is inferior when laterally extended.

Ventral chain: refers to the series of ganglia of the nervous system.

Ventral comb: in Trichoptera, a transverse row of fine teeth on venter.

Ventral diaphragm: is a fine membrane covering the central nerve cords and ganglia: also called ventral heart.

Ventral heart: = ventral diaphragm, q.v.

Ventral plate: a thickening of the blastoderm of an egg from which the embryo, but not the amnion or serosa is formed.

Ventral scale: in Diaspinae, the under part of the puparium, interposed between the insect and the plant.

Ventral tube: in Collembola, a tube or tubercle proceeding from the ventral side of the first abdominal segment.

Ventricose: with a big belly: distended; inflated.

Ventriculus: the true stomach, = chylific ventricle; q.v.

Ventri-meson: the middle line of the ventral surface of the body.

Ventro-cephalad: toward the lower side and anteriorly.

Ventro-dorsad: extending from belly to back.

Venules: the branches of the main veins.

Vermian: worm-like.

Vermicular: worm-like, tortuous: resembling the tracks of a worm.

Vermiculate: worm-like in form: a marking with wormlike tracings.

Vermiform: worm-shaped.

Vernal: appearing in spring.

Vernantia: the molting or shedding of the skin.

Verriculate: with thick-set tufts of parallel hairs.

Verricule: a dense tuft of upright hairs.

Verrucose: having little hard lumps or wart-like elevations.

Versatile: moving freely in every direction.

Versicolored: with several colors, indeterminately restricted.

Vertex: the top of the head between the eyes, front and occiput: in bees, that part of the head adjacent to and occupied by the ocelli: in Notonectids, "the imaginary anterior margin of the notocephalon."

Vertexal: occurring on or near the vertex, or directed toward it.

Vertical cephalic bristles: in Diptera, are two pairs, inner and outer, inserted more or less behind the upper and inner corner of the eye; erect, or the inner pair convergent, the outer pair divergent.

Vertical margin: in Diptera, the limit between front and occiput.

Vertical triangle: in male Diptera, the small triangle upon which the ocelli are situated; limited behind by vertex, in front by eyes.

Verticil: one of the whorls of long fine sensitive hair arranged symmetrically on the joints of the antennae in certain Diptera.

Verticillate: placed in whorls: antennae in which the joints have a circle of long, fine hair as in Cecidomyiids.

Vesicant: blistering: able to produce a blister.

Vesicle of penis: in Odonata, a sac with chitinous walls, attached to the sternum behind the penis.

Vesicles: little sacs, bladders or cysts: applied to extensible organs producing odors or secretions, as in some beetles and caterpillars.

Vesicular: bladder-like; beset with spherical prominences.

Vesicula seminalis: see seminal vesicles.

Vestibule: the space around the ovipositor formed by the projecting margins of the surrounding segments: the space between the occluding structure of the spiracle and the valve opening into the trachea itself.

Vestigial: small or degenerate: only a trace or remnant of a previously functional organ.

Vestiture: the surface clothing, whether of a hairy or scaly character.

Vexhillum: in Hymenoptera, an expansion on the tip of tarsi of certain fossorial groups.

Vibrant: having a rapid motion to and fro.

Vibratile: formed for vibratory motion: used to express the almost continual movement of the antennae of some Hymenoptera, and the wings of some Diptera.

Vibrissae: curved bristles or hairs in some Diptera, situated between the mystax and the antenna: whiskers.

Villi: soft hairs or papillate processes: plural of villus, q.v.

Villose -ous: soft-haired or clothed with soft, short hair.

Villus: a short, hair-like or papillate process on the surface of certain absorbent and sensory organs.

Vinous: wine-color: a deep, transparent red-brown, like claret [purple madder].

Violaceous: violet colored: a mixture of blue and red [violet carmine].

Virescent or Viridescent: greenish or becoming green.

Viridis: green, like verdigris [French blue + chrome yellow + white].

Viscera: the internal organs of the body.

Visceral: relating or attached to the viscera.

Viscid: sticky: covered with a shiny, resinous or greasy matter.

Viscous: thick, sticky or semi-fluid.

Vis formatrix: the creative or formative force.

Vitelligenous: producing the vitellus or yolk: said of certain cells in the ovaries, believed to have that function.

Vitelline -us: yellow, with a slight tinge of red, like yolk of an egg.

Vitelline membrane: the delicate tissue surrounding the yolk of an egg.

Vitreous: glassy; transparent.

Vitta: a longitudinal, colored line.

Vitta frontalis: = frontal stripe: q.v.

Vittate: striped.

Viviparous: applied to insects which bear living young.

Vocal cords: specialized organs on the thoracic spiracles of Diptera, by means of which they produce a humming or singing sound.

Volant: flying or capable of flight.

Vulgar: common; not conspicuous: obscure in appearance and abundant in number.

Vultus: face: that part of head below front and between the eyes.

Vulva: the orifice of the vagina in the female.

Vulvar lamina: in Odonata, the posterior margin of sternum of segment 8.

Vulvar scale: = v. lamina.

W

Wart: a spongy excrescence, more or less cylindric, with a nearly truncated tip: the enlarged, common base of a group of seta: in Trichoptera, a pitted elevation.

Wax: a ductile substance excreted by bees and other insects from glandular structures in various parts of the body, used in building cells or in forming a protective covering.

Wax-cutter: the pincer-like structure formed by the hind tibia and metatarsus in social bees.

Wax-glands: any glands in any part of the body which secrete a waxy product in either a scale, string or powder: in Coccidae, the circumgenital and parastigmatic glands; q.v.

Wax-pincer: = wax cutter.

Wax-scale: one of the scales secreted in the wax pocket or gland of a worker bee.

Whitlows: = paronychia; q.v.

Whorl: a ring of long hair arranged around a centre, like the spokes around the hub of a wheel.

Wing, Wings: membranous reticulated organs of flight; one pair, the primaries, attached to the meso-thorax; the other, the secondaries, attached to the meta-thorax.

Wing covers: those parts of the chitinous cuticle of larvae, nymphs or pupae which cover the rudiments of the wings of the imago: the forewings of an imago when they are thicker than the hind wings and cover them when at rest: see elytra; tegmina.

Wings of the heart: the series of diagonal and other muscular fibres above the diaphragm in the pericardial cavity: see pericardial diaphragm.

Wing cells: areas inclosed by veins: reference should be had to the figures illustrating venation and to the special terms applied to the cells.

Winglets: small, concavo-convex scales, generally fringed at tip, under the base of the elytra in Dytiscidae.

Wing-pads: undeveloped wings of pupa or nymph.

Wing-scale: in Hymenoptera, = tegula; q.v.

Workers: the undeveloped females in the social Hymenoptera; also those sexually undeveloped Termites that are not soldiers.

X

Xanthophyll: the yellow of autumn leaves; one of the substances found in the blood of insects.

Xenobiosis: see symbiosis.

Xerophilous: applied to species living in dry places.

Xylophaga: wood-eaters: applied in several orders.

Xylophagous: feeding in or upon woody tissue.

Xyphus: a spinous or triangular process of the meso-sternum in many Hemiptera, and some other insects.

Y

Yellow: used without modification is sulphur or lemon yellow.

Yolk: the nutritive matter of an egg as distinguished from the living, formative material; = deutoplasm.

Z

Zona: a belt or zone; as of distribution.

Zonite: = arthromere or somite; q.v.

Zoönite or Zoönule: = zonite.

Zygoptera: those Odonata, having the fore and hind wings subequal in width, venation comprising a quadrilateral, not a triangle; nymphs with caudal tracheal gills.

ADDENDA.

Calacobiosis: see symbiosis.

Cleptobiosis: see symbiosis.

Dulosis: see symbiosis.

Coxal file: in some aquatic Coleoptera a series of striations just above the hind coxa of male and, perhaps, a stridulating organ.

Coxal plates: plate-like expansions or dilations of the coxa: specifically in aquatic Coleoptera on the posterior pair.

Ecto-parasite: one that is attached to the external surface of the host.

Ento-parasite: one that feeds within the body of the host.

Embioptera: an ordinal term proposed for the Neuropterous family Embidae.

Hamabiosis: see symbiosis.

Heliophobic: loving darkness: applied to species that shun the light, like, e.g. Termites.

Heliotactic: light loving: applied to species that live in the open and in daylight.

Lestobiosis: see symbiosis.

Meron: in Neuroptera, a sclerite posterior to the coxa and below the epimeron: corresponds to the trochantine in Lepidoptera.

Metasternal wing: in some aquatic Coleoptera a leaf-like expansion above the coxal plates.

Myrmecophily: is the relation existing between ants and those guests that seek their company primarily for their own individual advantage.

Phylacobiosis: see symbiosis.

Prosternal process: in aquatic Coleoptera a modification of the prosternum used in the differentiation of species.

Sub-clypeal pump: in some Diptera, the enlarged, more or less bulb- like structure at the anterior entrance of the oesophagus.

Sub-clypeal tube: in Diptera: see pharynx.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES.

PLATE 1. Structures of the External Body Wall.

1. Harpalus caliginosas showing the underside, and the head from above, to show the regions and the position of the sclerites.

2. Thorax of a Dipteron to show location of bristles.

3. Lateral view of a denuded Lepidopteron to show arrangement of sclerites.

4. Abdominal segment of a caterpillar to show the position of the tubercles.

5. Lateral view of a dragon fly to show the body sclerites.

All the abbreviations used in this plate are readily understood.

PLATE II. Structures of Head, Mouth, Thorax & Genitalia

1. Head of wasp from front.

2. Head of honey bee with mouth parts extended.

3. Head of Locustid from front, to show regions.

4. Head of a Lepidopteron from front.

5. Head of a cricket from front.

6. Labium of a cricket showing all usual parts.

7. Maxilla of Harpalus caliginosus, with all sclerites marked.

8. Mandible of Copris carolina with all sclerites defined.

9. Thorax of a Hymenopteron from above.

10. Genitalia of a male mosquito with all parts named.

11. Genitalia of a male Noctuid from below: the parts separated out.

PLATE III. Venation According to the Comstock System.

1. Wing venation of a Noctuid.

2. Wing venation of a Hepialid.

3. Wing venation of a Locustid.

4. Wing venation of a Hymenopteron.

5. Wing venation of a Dipteron.

6. Wing venation of an Odonat.

7. Wing venation of a Cicada.

Abbreviations are as follows:

C. Costa, except in figure 1, where on the outer margin C occurs instead of Cu. In the cells it means Costal.

Sc. Subcosta, when it refers to a vein and subcostal in a cell.

R. Radius, when it refers to a vein and radial when in a cell.

M. Media, when it refers to a vein and median in a cell.

Cu. Cubitus, when it refers to a vein and cubital in a cell.

A. Anal veins or cells.

c-v. cross-vein.

m-cu. medio-cubital cross-vein.

r-m. radio-medial cross-vein.

m. median cross-vein.

h. humeral cross-vein.

st. stigma.

ar. arculus.

br. bridge.

n. nodus.

o. oblique vein.

t. triangle.

i. internal triangle.

al. anal loop.

Antn-c-sp. Antenodal costal spaces.

Ptn-c-sp. Postnodal costal spaces.

Ptn-r-sp. Postnodal radial spaces.

All cells are named after the vein that bounds them anteriorly and are numbered, if more than one, from base outwardly, as 2M3 = second median 3, etc.

In figure 1, M, in the outer margin between C1 and M2, should be M3: the 3 was accidentally cut out by the engraver.

Plate 1

Plate 2

Plate 3

COLOR PLATE.

Nomenclature of Windsor and Newton's Water Colors. 1. Vermilion. 2. Carmine. 3. Crimson lake. 4. Alizar crimson. 5. Salmon. 6. Rose. 7. Purple madder. 8. Mauve. 9. French blue. 10. Purple lake. 11. Violet carmine. 12. Lilac. 13. Cobalt blue. 14. Lavender. 15. Blue gray. 16. Greenish gray. 17. Chrome lemon. 18. Gamboge. 19. Chrome orange. 20. Pale cadmium yellow. 21. Brown pink. 22. Pale clay yellow. 23. Hooker's green. 24. Prussian green. 25. Olive green. 26. Apple green. 27. Nile green. 28. Pale green. 20. Blue green. 30. Neutral. 31. Gray. 32. Ultra ash gray. 33. Indian red. 34. Dragon's blood. 35. Burnt sienna. 36. Brown ochre. 37. Cologne earth. 38. Roman sepia. 39. Van Dyke brown. 40. Pale brown.