USDA UNM MSB Lucid
Oncid ID: Tool for Diagnosing Adult Twig Girdlers (Cerambycidae: Lamiinae: Onciderini)
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Glossary of Morphological Terms



Definitions adapted from Torre-Bueno glossary of entomology (Nichols, 1989).

A
  • allotype: a specimen that is designated as a secondary, non name-bearing, type that is the opposite sex of the holotype

  • annulate: surrounded by a ring of a different color

  • antenna: in larval and adult insects, paired segmented appendages, borne one on each side of the head, functioning as sense organs and bearing a large number of sensilla (plural: antennae)

  • antennomere: a subunit of the antenna, including scape, pedicel, and flagellomeres

  • apex: end of any structure distad to the base (plural: apices)

  • arcuate: arched or bow-like

  • attenuate: gradually tapering apically

B
  • base: the part of any appendage or structure that is nearest the body

  • bidentate: having two teeth

C
  • carina: an elevated ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute (plural: carinae)

  • cicatrix: a scar; a scar-like structure

  • clavate: thickening gradually toward the tip

  • conical: wider at base than apex

  • contiguous: so near together as to touch

  • crista: a prominent, longitudinal carina on the upper surface of any part of the head or body (plural: cristae)

  • cuticle: a secretion of the epidermis, covering the entire body of the insect

  • cylindrical: shaped like a cylinder, parallel sided

D
  • dimorphic: occuring in two distinct forms

  • distad: toward the distal end

  • distal: near or toward the free end of any appendage; that part of a segment farthest from the body

E
  • elongate: much longer than wide

  • elytron: the leathery forewing of beetles, serving as a covering for the hind wings, commonly meeting opposite elytron in a straight line down the middle of the dorsum in repose (plural: elytra)

  • emarginate: notched at the margin

F
  • farinose: dotted with many single flour-like spots

  • ferrugineous: rusty red-brown

  • fimbriate: fringed with hairs of irregular length

  • flagellomere: one part of a multiannulated flagellum of an antenna

  • frons: the upper anterior portion of the head capsule, usually a distinct sclerite between the epicranium and clypeus

  • frontoclypeal suture: the suture between the frons and the clypeus

G
  • gena: the part of the cranium on each side below the eye (plural: genae)

  • girdle: to cut away the bark and cambium in a ring around (a plant) usually to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients

  • glabrous: smooth, devoid of pubescence; devoid of any sculpturing

  • granulate: minutely and densely verrucose or minutely farinose

H
  • holotype: a single specimen designated as the name-bearing type of a species or subspecies when it was established, or the single specimen on which the taxon was based when no type was specified

  • humerus: shoulder; the basal exterior angle of the elytra (plural: humeri)

I
L
  • lectotype: a syntype designated as the single name-bearing type specimen subsequent to the establishment of a nominal species or subspecies

M
  • macula: a spot or mark (plural: maculae)

  • mesocoxa: coxa of the midleg (plural: mesocoxae)

  • mesofemur: midfemur (plural: mesofemora)

  • mesosternum: sternum of the mesothorax

  • mesosternal process: a prolongation of the mesosternum extending between the mesocoxae

  • metacoxa: coxa of the hind leg (plural: metacoxae)

  • metafemur: hind femur (plural: metafemora)

O
  • oblong: longer than broad

  • occiput: dorsal part of the head between the occipital sulcus and the postoccipital sulcus

  • ochraceous: pale yellow

  • ommatidium: one of the visual elements of the compound eye (plural: ommatidia)

  • ovate: egg-shaped, with the broader end at the base

  • oviposit: to deposit or lay eggs or ova

P
  • paratype: each specimen of a type series other than the holotype

  • pretarsus: last segment of the insect leg (plural: pretarsae)

  • procoxa: coxa of the proleg (plural: procoxae)

  • profemur: forefemur (plural: profemora)

  • pronotum: the upper and dorsal part of the prothorax (plural: pronota)

  • protuberance: any outgrowth or elevation above the surface

  • proximal: that part of an appendage nearest the body, as opposed to distal

  • pubescence: short, fine, erect hair

  • punctate: set with fine, impressed points or punctures appearing as pin-pricks

  • punctation: pits or depression of variable size in cuticle

R
S
  • scape: see antennal scape

  • sculpturing: definition

  • seta: a sclerotized hair-like projection of the cuticle (plural: setae)

  • sinuous: undulating, curved in and out

  • subquadrate: not quite a square

  • subtruncate: not quite cut off squarely at the tip

  • sulcus: groove with a purely functional origin

  • suture: groove marking the line of fusion of two formerly distinct plates; the line of junction of elytra

  • syntype: each specimen of a type series from which neither a holotype nor a lectotype has been designated

T
  • tarsal claw: usually paired claws of the pretarsus, at the apex of the leg

  • transverse: broader than long

  • truncate: cut off squarely at the tip

  • tubercle: a small knoblike or rounded protuberance

  • type: a particular kind of specimen; e.g. allotype, cotype, holotype, lectotype, paratype, syntype

U
V
  • vertex: the top of the head between the eyes, frons and occiput, anterior to the occipital suture (plural: vertices)

  • verrucose: covered with irregularly shaped lobes or wart-like protuberances

  • vitta: a broad longitudinal stripe (plural: vittae)


 
 

male Eudesmus sp., Ecuador
Male Eudesmus sp., Ecuador
© K. Swing

female Oncideres saga, Brazil
Female Oncideres saga, Brazil
© M.L. Monné

female Jamesia papulenta, Costa Rica
Female Jamesia papulenta, Costa Rica
© K. Nishida


© 2011-2015 Nearns, E.H., Lord, N.P., and K.B. Miller