COLEOPTERA • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Coleoptera

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noun

Coleoptera n. pl. (Zool.) An order of insects having the anterior pair of wings (elytra) hard and horny, and serving as coverings for the posterior pair, which are membranous, and folded transversely under the others when not in use. The mouth parts form two pairs of jaws (mandibles and maxillae) adapted for chewing. Most of the Coleoptera are known as beetles and weevils.

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Etymology of 'Coleoptera'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Coleoptera" Quotes from Famous Books

... is. My mother was Aunt Patsy's sister, and had the same wild superstitions. A bat is beautifully soft and silky: I do not know any creature that is pleasanter to the touch, or is more grateful for caressings, if offered in the right spirit. I know all about these coleoptera, because our great cave, three miles below Hannibal, was multitudinously stocked with them, and often I brought them home to amuse my mother with. It was easy to manage if it was a school day, because then I had ostensibly ...

— Chapters from My Autobiography • Mark Twain

Words linked to "Coleoptera" : family Cleridae, family Tenebrionidae, family Dermestidae, class Insecta, family Coccinellidae, Carabidae, Hexapoda, Elateridae, Insecta, family Cicindelidae, family Lampyridae, Tenebrionidae, family Ipidae, order Coleoptera, family Curculionidae, Dermestidae, Cicindelidae, Coccinellidae, family Anobiidae, animal order, family Elateridae, Lamellicornia, family Meloidae, Bruchidae, Chrysomelidae, Anobiidae, beetle, family Staphylinidae, Meloidae, Scolytidae, Cerambycidae, family Chrysomelidae, Lampyridae, superfamily Lamellicornia