entomophilous

American  

[en-tuh-mof-uh-luhs] / ˌɛn təˈmɒf ə ləs /

adjective

1. pollinated by or having spores distributed by insects.

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entomophilous British  

/ ˌɛntəˈmɒfɪləs /

adjective

1. (of flowering plants) pollinated by insects Compare anemophilous

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entomophilous Scientific  

/ ĕn′tə-mŏf′ə-ləs /

1. Pollinated by insects.

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Other Word Forms

• entomophily noun

Etymology

Origin of entomophilous

First recorded in 1875–80; entomo- + -philous

Example Sentences

There is no great difficulty in understanding how an anemophilous plant might have been rendered entomophilous.

From Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom by Darwin, Charles

There must also have been a period when winged insects did not exist, and plants would not then have been rendered entomophilous.

From Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom by Darwin, Charles

All the species hitherto mentioned which produce cleistogamic flowers are entomophilous; but four genera, Juncus, Hordeum, Cryptostachys, and Leersia are anemophilous.

From The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species by Darwin, Charles

Poterium sanguisorba is anemophilous; and Sanguisorba officinalis presumably was so formerly, but has reacquired an entomophilous habit; the whole tribe Poterieae being, in fact, a degraded group which has descended from Potentilleae.

From Darwinism (1889) by Wallace, Alfred Russel

In the class Monoecia of Linnaeus, Delpino shows that the species of twenty-eight genera are anemophilous, and of seventeen genera entomophilous.

From Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom by Darwin, Charles