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A

A: prefix, is privative; wanting or without.

Ab: off; away from.

Abbreviated: cut short; not of usual length.

Abdomen: the third or posterior division of the insect body: consists normally of nine or ten apparent segments, but actual number is a mooted question: bears no functional legs in the adult stage.

Abdominal: belonging or pertaining to the abdomen.

Abdominal feet: see pro-legs.

Abdominal groove: the concave lobe of the inner margin of secondaries enveloping the abdomen beneath, in some butterflies.

Abdominal pouch: in female Parnassiids, a sac-like ventral cavity, formed by material secreted during copulation.

Abductor: applied to muscles that open out or extend an appendage or draw it away from the body: see adductor.

Abductor mandibulae: the muscle that opens the mandibles.

Aberrant: unusual; out of the ordinary course.

Aberration: a form that departs in some striking way from the normal type; either single or occurring rarely, at irregular intervals.

Abiogenesis: spontaneous generation.

Abnormal: outside the usual range or course; not normal.

Aborted: a structure developed so as to be unfit for its normal function obsolete or atrophied.

Abraded: scraped or rubbed.

Abrupt: suddenly or without gradation.

Abscissus: cut off squarely, with a straight margin.

Absconditus: hidden, concealed; retracted into another.

Acalyptrata: those muscid flies in which alulae are absent or rudimentary.

Acanthus: a spine, spur or prickle.

Acaudalate: without a tail.

Accessory: added, or in addition to.