Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An order of hexapod insects, or true Insecta, with suctorial mouth-parts in the form of a spiral antlia, four similar membranous wings completely covered with scales, a fused prothorax, and perfect metamorphosis.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun plural (Zoöl.) An order of insects, which includes the butterflies and moths. They have broad wings, covered with minute overlapping scales, usually brightly colored.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A taxonomic order within the superorder Panorpida — the butterflies, moths and skippers.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun moths and butterflies

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek λεπίς (lepís, "scale") + πτερόν (pterón, "wing").

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Examples

  • Present in Lepidoptera is LeAmon’s long-held fascination for the equation between mobility and freedom and the machismo of moto culture.

    Lepidoptera Chair by Simone LeAmon 2009

  • A key feature of Lepidoptera is the use of textile remnants and R&D spillage from Australia’s leading automotive textile manufacturer Autofab.

    Lepidoptera Chair by Simone LeAmon 2009

  • My favorite of the Lepidoptera is the peppered moth, not that I have ever knowingly seen one, so I searched for “moth” 3.

    "Understanding Evolution" Website - The Panda's Thumb 2007

  • My favorite of the Lepidoptera is the peppered moth, not that I have ever knowingly seen one, so I searched for “moth” 3.

    "Understanding Evolution" Website - The Panda's Thumb 2007

  • This summary of the more interesting phenomena of variation presented by the eastern Papilionidæ is, I think, sufficient to substantiate my position, that the Lepidoptera are a group that offer especial facilities for such inquiries; and it will also show that they have undergone an amount of special adaptive modification rarely equalled among the more highly organized animals.

    Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection A Series of Essays Alfred Russel Wallace 1868

  • They live in many parts of the world, but thrive particularly well in the tropics, with an exceptionally high number of species found in Peru. butterfly metamorphosis The Lepidoptera is a unique insect in the way that it goes through a

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2010

  • The Geometrid moth belongs to the order Lepidoptera, which is also the insect order to which butterflies belong.

    unknown title 2009

  • We are a long time reaching the ant-city, but it would be quite an insult to the Insect-family to give no thought to the most wonderful thing about it -- the "transformations" by which many of its six-legged members pass through their three distinct stages of existence; so it will be well to turn over a few pages in the story of the Butterfly, one of the family-branch called Lepidoptera, because its wings are covered with thousands of tiny scales, which enclose the colouring that makes them as softly tinted as the flowers upon the nectar of which it feeds.

    Twilight and Dawn Simple Talks on the Six Days of Creation Caroline Pridham

  • "Lepidoptera," and recited under her breath a few selections of the

    The Heart of Arethusa Francis Barton Fox

  • Simone LeAmon took out first place with her chair titled 'Lepidoptera' and she says

    Apartment Therapy Main 2009

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