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Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology · John Bernhard Smith — chapter 136 of 164 · ~351 words · public domain

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Situ (in): in its natural place or position.

Sixth longitudinal vein: in Diptera; = 1st anal vein (Comst.).

Skeleton: the hard chitinous parts which externally (exoskeleton) or internally (endoskeleton) form a protective covering, or serve as points of attachment, to muscles and other soft organs.

Skippers: a popular term for Hesperid butterflies: the dipterous larva sometimes found in cheese and other provisions.

Slaty: very dark blackish gray with a reddish tinge [neutral with a little Indian red].

Slug: in general, any larva that has a slimy viscid appearance, and the body closely applied to the food plant: more specifically, the larvae of certain saw-flies and of some Coleoptera.

S. M. interspace: sub-median interspace in the primaries of Lepidoptera, includes the space between the median and sub-median veins; (cubitus and 1st anal, Comst.).

Smaltinus: a dull grayish blue.

Smaragdinus: emerald green [pale green].

Smooth: a surface without elevations or indentations.

Snout: the prolongation of the head in Rhynchophora at the end of which the mouth parts are situated: see rostrum.

Social: living in communities: more especially those species in which undeveloped or worker forms occur and where the colony has a single female head.

Soldiers: in termites; forms sexually undeveloped, in which the mandibles are pincer-like and the head is much enlarged: worker majors in certain ants.

Solid: applied to an organ usually jointed, when these joints form into one mass; e.g. the capitulum of certain clavate antennae.

Solitary-arius: occurring singly or in pairs; not in colonies.

Somatic: relating to the body, or abdomen.

Somatotheca: that part of pupa covering abdominal rings:= gasterotheca.

Somite: = arthromere.

Sonifaction: the production of sound: = stridulation; q.v.

Sonoran faunal areas: see upper and lower Sonoran.

Sonorific: sound producing: applied to stridulating organs.

Sordid: dirty; dull.

Spadiceous: bay brown [dragon's blood + brown ochre].

Spado: the worker or neuter in bees and ants.

Sparse: scattered: single hairs, scales or sculptures set well apart.

Spatha: a median piece in male genitalia of aculeate Hymenoptera, covering the bases of the sagitte.

Spatula: the breast bone (q.v.) of cecidomyid larvae.

Spatulate: rounded and broad at top, attenuate at base.

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