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

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Etymology

Origin of entomophilous

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

entomophilous

The entomophilous ancestry of Pringlea is clearly shown by the occasional remnants of coloured markings in the petals, like those which in other flowers serve as finger-posts to visiting-insects, and are called nectar-guides.

From Springtime and Other Essays by Sir Francis Darwin

If this view is correct, plants must have been rendered hermaphrodites at a later though still very early period, and entomophilous at a yet later period, namely, after the development of winged insects.

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

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 Charles Darwin

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 Charles Darwin

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 Alfred Russel Wallace

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