strepˈsiptərə noun plural
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from strepsi- (from Greek, from strepsis act or instance of turning) + -ptera; from the twisted front wings
: a group formerly included in the Coleoptera but now regarded as a separate order and comprising minute insects which are parasitic as larvae in other insects, in which the females remain permanently in the host and degenerate into a sac wherein the eggs hatch and the larvae develop, and which undergo a hypermetamorphosis in the course of larval development — compare stylops , xenos