heˈmiptərə noun plural
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from hemi- (I) + -ptera
1. : a large order of insects that comprise the true bugs (as the bedbug, squash bug, and chinch bug) and various related insects (as the aphids and mealybugs), that are generally more or less flattened, that have mouthparts adapted to piercing and sucking and usually two pairs of wings of which the basal part of the anterior pair is thickened and coriaceous and the distal part membranous while the posterior pair is wholly membranous, that undergo an incomplete metamorphosis, and that include many important pests — see heteroptera , homoptera
2.
a. in some classifications : an order coextensive with Heteroptera
b. in some especially former classifications : an order including Hemiptera (sense 1) together with Anoplura and Thysanoptera