-ˈäptərə noun plural
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek koleoptera, neuter plural of koleopteros sheath-winged, from koleo- cole- + -pteros -pterous
: the largest order of insects comprising the beetles and weevils and sometimes the Strepsiptera, being distinguished by an anterior pair of wings that are usually hard and rigid, are never used for flight, and serve as a protective covering for the delicate membranous flight wings and the upper surface of the abdomen, having usually a heavily armored body and strong mouthparts that are always of the chewing type, typically producing larvae that are grubs and pass into an inactive pupal stage with a pupa in which the appendages are not cemented to the body and which is rarely enclosed in a cocoon, varying in size from tropical goliath beetles several inches in length to minute forms that pass their lives within the spore tubes of polypore fungi, and including numerous destructive pests of economic plants and of stored products as well as others (as the ladybugs or the fireflies) that are of economic or aesthetic value to man