LEPIDOPTERAN


Meaning of LEPIDOPTERAN in English

adj.

Any of the more than 100,000 species constituting the order Lepidoptera (Greek: "scaly wing"): butterflies , moths , and skippers .

The name refers to the dusting of minute scales that covers the wings and bodies of these insects . A slender proboscis is used for sucking. Nearly all lepidopterans are plant eaters, and species are found on every continent except Antarctica. Females may lay from a few to a thousand or more eggs at a time. All lepidopterans undergo complete metamorphosis . Many types move from one region to another, sometimes crossing thousands of miles of ocean, but the only species that truly migrates

the same individuals making a two-way flight

is the monarch butterfly .

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.      Краткая энциклопедия Британика.