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mosquito

(Encyclopedia)mosquito məskēˈtō [key], small, long-legged insect of the order Diptera, the true flies. The females of most species have piercing and sucking mouth parts and apparently they must feed at least on...

wings

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Structure of a bird wing B. Structure of a bat wing wings, flight organs of the bird, the bat, and the insect. Birds' wings are pectoral appendages that are basically the same in skeletal...

water bug

(Encyclopedia)water bug, name for a large number of water-living bugs, comprising several families of the order Hemiptera (true bugs). All have jointed, sharp, sucking beaks, breathe air, and undergo gradual metamo...

herbarium

(Encyclopedia)herbarium, collection of dried and mounted plant specimens used in systematic botany. To preserve their form and color, plants collected in the field are spread flat in sheets of newsprint and dried, ...

backswimmer

(Encyclopedia)backswimmer, common name for water bugs of the cosmopolitan family Notonectidae, so named because they swim upside down, usually near the surface of the water. They have oval bodies and long, oarlike ...

bee-eater

(Encyclopedia)bee-eater, any of the brightly colored, insect-eating birds of the family Meropidae. They range in length from 6 to 14 in. (15–36 cm). The plumage of many species is predominantly green but usually ...

termite

(Encyclopedia)termite or white ant, common name for a soft-bodied social insect of the infraorder Isoptera. Originally classified in as a separate order, termites are genetically related to cockroaches and are now ...

beetle

(Encyclopedia)beetle, common name for insects of the order Coleoptera, which, with more than 300,000 described species, is the largest of the insect orders. Beetles have chewing mouthparts and well-developed antenn...

anaphylaxis

(Encyclopedia)anaphylaxis ănˌəfəlăkˈsĭs [key], hypersensitive state that may develop after introduction of a foreign protein or other antigen into the body tissues. When an anaphylactic state exists, a secon...

jumping mouse

(Encyclopedia)jumping mouse, rodent slightly larger than the common mouse, found in North America and N Asia, also called the kangaroo mouse. Its long hind legs and tail enable it to leap distances up to 12 ft (3.7...