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.

---

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

---

Other Word Forms

• nondipterous adjective

Etymology

Origin of dipterous

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

Example Sentences

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

The box turtle as a host for dipterous parasites.

From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by Legler, John M.

Flabs: the lobes at the tip of the dipterous mouth:= labella; q.v.

From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.

Scizophora, skī-zof′ō-ra, n.pl. a division of dipterous insects.

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

Dip′teran, a dipterous insect; Dip′teros, a building with double peristyle or colonnade.—adjs.

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