caecum                                               A pouch in which in some animals houses a bacterial population which is involved in the digestion of cellulose.

calcar                                                   Modified tibial spur, often with comb of teeth.

callus                   Rounded swelling used especially to describe swollen regions at the front and back of certain diptera.

calypter                 A wing membrane.  Calypter also known as the thoracic squama, the inner most of three outgrowths at the base of the wing in certain Diptera. [picture]

campanulate                                    Bell shaped.

campodeiform                                 Concerning larva-elongated, flattened with developed legs and antennae, seen in many beetles

canthus                                               (pl. Canthi). A sclerotized bar encroaching on the eye.

capitate antenna.                           Antenna with a distinct, abrupt club.

carapace                                 The hard upper plate of the cephalothorax of a spider.  [picture]

cardo                                                    Secondary jaw, comprised from basal segment of the maxilla.

carina, plural carinae                  A ridge. (a pronounced ridge).

carinula                                              A small carina, a small ridge.

caste                                                    One of the distinct forms that make up the population of social insects, in honeybees-queen, drone, worker.

catabolism                                         Degradation of food molecules that results in energy.

cauda                                                   Terminal protrusion, such as that on aphid for manipulating honeydew.

caudal                                                  Concerning the tail end. Cell area of wing formed by  wing veination.

cephalothorax                                  bbbb

cercus                                                  A paired structure, one on each side at the end of the abdomen at the base of the supra-anal plate and paraprocts, variable sized and shaped, segmented or not. [picture for Blattodea]

cervical                                                Just behind the head, concerning the neck.

cervical sclerites.                            Paired sclerites lying in membrane between the posterior edge of the head and the anterior edge of the pronotum. In some groups, the sclerite on each side may be subdivided.

chaetae                                               Stiff hairs, singular-chaeta.

chaetosema, chaetosemata       A group of setal, usually divergent sensilla present on the head of butterflies and some moths.

chaetotaxy                                         The arrangement of hairs. Often of taxonomic value.

chalaza                                                A sclerotized, conical area of the larval integument, bearing a single plumose seta or up to three simple seta.

chemoreceptor                                A sense organ responsive to chemical stimuli.

chitin                                                     Polysaccharide material, tough relatively waterproof, forms bulk of insect cuticle.

chorion                                                 Egg-shell.

chrysomeloid aedeagus.             A modification of the cucujiform aedeagus in which the parameres are highly reduced or absent, the anterior tegminal strut often laterally compressed, and the upper portion of the ring sometimes reduced to membrane, so that the tegmen becomes fork-like. This type occurs in most derived groups of Chrysomelidae.

ciliated                                                 Bearing minute setae, hairs in many non-insects.

cladistics                                  Originally termed phylogenic systematics.

claval fold                                          Lying just behind CuP, it separates the remigium from the anal fold.

clavate                                                 Gradual thickening near the distal end.

clavate antenna.                             Antenna gradually thickened and club-like, but without an abrupt club.

clavus                                               In Noctuidae, a process from the dorsal margin of the sacculus. In Hemiptera a wing area in the anal region delimited by the claval furrow.  [picture for Hemiptera]

claw                                                      A hooked usually paired, structure at the tip of the tarsus.

cleptoparasitic                                 ‘cuckoo’ bees do not make their own nests, instead oviposit in the cells of other bees, and their larva feed on the provisions supplied by their hosts.

cleroid aedeagus.                          See Cucujiform aedeagus.                 

clypeal shield                                  Of Blattodea.

clypeolabrum.                                 Sclerite formed by the complete fusion of the clypeus and labrum, so that there is no suture present.

clypeus.                                              Facial sclerite between frons and labrum. The area of the beetle head between the frontoclypeal suture and the labrum, or in the absence of a frontoclypeal suture, the area just behind the labrum and in front of the eyes. Also called the epistoma.

coarctate                                            Of Diptera, Cyclorrhapha. The pupa remain permanently pharate within a puparium formed from the larval skin.

cocoonase                                         An enzyme secreted by some advanced moths and used to soften or break down cocoon silk to allow the escape of the adult.

collar.                                                   A broad and often convex margin at the anterior or posterior end of the prothorax, set off by a distinct transverse groove.

colliculum                                          A sclerotized plate or thickening near the posterior end of the ductus bursae in the female genitalia.

comb                                                    A dense series of heavily sclerotized spines forming a comb-like structure. Usually located at the tibial apex but occasionally elsewhere on the tibia on one or more tarsomeres.

confluent                                         Flowing or coming together.

conglobation.                                 A type of body compaction in which the head and prothorax are capable of folding against the hind body, forming a sphere.

connate ventrites.                         Ventrites which are immovably united, so that they can not slide over one another as they can when joined by membrane. This may be used as a synonym with fused ventrites, but they are always deparated by a groove or line, while fusion sometimes involves the disappearance of any joining line.

contiguous               Meeting or touching.

coprophagus                                    Feeding on animal dung.

corbicula                                            Pollen basket. Apoidea on the enlarged hind tibia and basitarsus where hairs form a fringe surrounding a bare area of concavity.

coremata                                        Thin-walled eversible organs of male moths used for the dissemination of pheromones. In Pyralids they are expandable pencils of  specialised scales.

corethrogyne                                    Specialised scales near the tip of the abdomen in some female moths, usually used to cover the egg mass.

corium                   Main part of wing in heteropteran bug.

cornicle                                               Tubular outgrowths from the distal end of aphids, plural conicles.

corporotentorium.                          The transverse bridge which joins the paired arms of the tentorium near the posterior edge of the head. The tentorial arms may also be joined anteriorly by a meeting of the laminatentoria. The bridge is usually narrow, occasionally broad, and rarely bears a median process.

cosmopolitan                                Widely distributed over the globe.

costa                                                     The anterior or leading edge of the wing, between the base and the apex.

costal cell                Cell formed between the costa and sub-costal vein.

costal fold                                          An expanded costal area folded over or beneath the fore wing in the male, often covering special pheromone-disseminating scales or hairs.

coxa                                                      Basal segment of leg, by which leg is attached to the body, often fixed and immovable. [picture for Coleoptera]

coxal cavity.                                      The countersunk housing into which the coxa fits. These housings differ on each of the thoracic segments and are discussed separately. See Procoxal cavity, Mesocoxal cavity, Metacoxal cavity.

cremaster                                           Constricted anal area of the pupa, usually bearing hooked setae used for attaching the pupa to the cocoon silk or a silk pad.

crenulate                                          With small regular indentations. Scalloped

crepuscular                                      Active in the twilight.

crotchets                                              Terminal scerotized hooks on the larval prolegs.

cubitus                                                 The fifth main longitudinal vein (Cu), with two branches CuA and CuP; CuA forms the posterior margin of the discal cell.

cucujiform aedeagus.                  Aedeagus in which the phallobase forms a sheath or ring around the penis and the parameres are often reduced in size, fused to the phallobase or completely absent. The combined phallobase and parameres, usually referred to as the tegmen, may be drawn out anteriorly to form a narrow strut. This type of aedeagus includes those known as cleroid, sheath or vaginate and cucujoid, ring or annulate; it is characteristic of most Lymexyloidea, Cleroidea and Cucujoidea, as well as basal members of Chrysomeloidea and Curculionoidea. In Curculionoidea, this type of aedeagus is called the orthocerous type, although that term also implies that the penis is comprised of a doral and ventral lobe.

cucujoid aedeagus.                       See Cucujiform aedeagus.

cucullus                                               A dorsal lobe at the apex of the male valva in certain moths.

cuneus                                     In Hemiptera - Cimicomorpha. An area of the fore wing defined by the costal fracture.  [picture]

cupule.                                                 A very short and broad, distally concave and usually glabrous antennomere just before the antennal club. This usually forms part of a mechanism in aquatic beetles for obtaining an air bubble.

cupuliform antennal club.          An antennal club in which the distal one or two antennomeres are more or less enclosed within the preceding one.

curculionoid aedeagus.                A modification of the cucujiform aedeagus in which the ring is very narrow with a narrow anterior strut, the parmeres reduced and fused to the ring, and the ring sometimes partly membranous, so that it resembles a fork. This type occurs in most derived curculionoids, and when combined with an undivided penis, is called the gonatocerous type.

cursorial                                               Adapted for running

cuticle                                                    The non-cellular skin of insects consisting of chitin and protein; in larvae it is shed at intervals to allow growth.