Strepsiptera

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. An order of insects, named by Kirby in 1833 from the twisted wings, synonymous with Rhipiptera of Latreille, and corresponding to the family Stylopidæ. The fore wings are mere twisted filaments or pseudelytra; the hind wings are expansive and fan-shaped; the females are wingless. The strepsipters are parasitic on hymenopterous insects, especially bees and wasps. They are now regarded as anomalous Coleoptera degraded by parasitism. See cut under Stylops.
2. In Gegenbaur's system of classification, a family of neuropterous insects, forming with Phryganida the suborder Trichoptera.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) A group of small insects having the anterior wings rudimentary, and in the form of short and slender twisted appendages, while the posterior ones are large and membranous. They are parasitic in the larval state on bees, wasps, and the like; -- called also Rhipiptera. See Illust. under rhipipter.