Also ‑pteran and ‑pterous.
Winged animals.
Greek pteron, wing.
This ending forms systematic names for groups of animals with wings, mainly the insects but also the bats, of which some examples are in the list below. Forms in ‑pteran are either adjectives relating to the group or names for members of it (coleopteran, dipteran); other adjectives are formed in ‑pterous (heteropterous, orthopterous).
Examples of words in -ptera
All word origins are from Greek.
Chiroptera
the bats
kheir, hand
Coleoptera
the beetles
koleos, sheath
Diptera
the two-winged or true flies
di‑, two
Ephemeroptera
the mayflies
ephēmeros, lasting only a day
Hemiptera
the true bugs, including aphids, cicadas, and leafhoppers
hemi‑, half, because of their forewing structure
Heteroptera
a group of true bugs comprising those in which the forewings are non-uniform
heteros, other
Homoptera
a group of true bugs comprising those in which the forewings are uniform in texture, such as aphids, whitefly, scale insects, and cicadas
homos, same
Hymenoptera
a large order of insects that includes the bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies, with four transparent wings
humēn, membrane
Isoptera
the termites
isos, equal, because members have four large equal wings
Lepidoptera
the butterflies and moths, which have wings covered in scales
lepis, lepid‑, scale
Neuroptera
the lacewings, alderflies, snake flies, and ant lions, which have four finely veined membranous wings
neuron, veined
Orthoptera
the grasshoppers, crickets, and their relatives, which have straight and narrow forewings
orthos, straight
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