dipterous

American  

[dip-ter-uhs] / ˈdɪp tər əs /

adjective

1. Entomology. belonging or pertaining to the order Diptera, comprising the houseflies, mosquitoes, and gnats, characterized by a single, anterior pair of membranous wings with the posterior pair reduced to small, knobbed structures.

2. Botany. having two winglike appendages, as seeds or stems.

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dipterous British  

/ ˈdɪptərəs /

adjective

1. Also: dipteran.  of, relating to, or belonging to the Diptera, a large order of insects having a single pair of wings and sucking or piercing mouthparts. The group includes flies, mosquitoes, craneflies, and midges

2. botany having two winglike parts

   a dipterous seed

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Other Word Forms

• nondipterous adjective

Etymology

Origin of dipterous

1765–75; < New Latin dipterus < Greek dípteros; Diptera, -ous

Example Sentences

Pūpip′ara, a division of dipterous insects having pup� developed within the body of the mother.—adjs.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

They come into the world in the form of smooth, ovate bodies, much resembling ordinary dipterous pupæ, but as Leuckart has shown,11 they are true, though abnormal, larvæ.

From On the Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects by Lubbock, John, Sir

It was November, a season of heavy dipterous mortality.

From The Vertical City by Hurst, Fannie

Diopsis, dī-op′sis, n. a genus of dipterous insects, of the fly family.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Zimb, zimb, n. an Abyssinian dipterous insect, like the tsetse, hurtful to cattle.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various