lepidoptera
plural noun
lep·i·dop·tera ˌle-pə-ˈdäp-tə-rə 
: insects that are lepidopterans
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web How exactly did a space dedicated to the study and preservation of the lepidoptera land in the crosshairs of far-right extremists? 
Fidel Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2022 And its butterfly garden allowed visitors to walk through a room brimming with hundreds of monarchs, common sergeants, tailed jays and other fluttering lepidoptera. Jerry Dicolo | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 5 Sep. 2020 Biologists have long hypothesized that the evolutionary transformation within the species lepidoptera could be traced back to the moths’ understandable desire to avoid getting eaten by nocturnal bats. Sarah Todd, Quartz at Work, 23 Oct. 2019 Most moths are nocturnal; butterflies are essentially moths that have evolved to be diurnal, or active during the day, says Robert Robbins, a curator of lepidoptera at the National Museum of Natural History. Anna Diamond, Smithsonian, 19 Apr. 2018
Fidel Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2022 And its butterfly garden allowed visitors to walk through a room brimming with hundreds of monarchs, common sergeants, tailed jays and other fluttering lepidoptera. Jerry Dicolo | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 5 Sep. 2020 Biologists have long hypothesized that the evolutionary transformation within the species lepidoptera could be traced back to the moths’ understandable desire to avoid getting eaten by nocturnal bats. Sarah Todd, Quartz at Work, 23 Oct. 2019 Most moths are nocturnal; butterflies are essentially moths that have evolved to be diurnal, or active during the day, says Robert Robbins, a curator of lepidoptera at the National Museum of Natural History. Anna Diamond, Smithsonian, 19 Apr. 2018 Word History
First Known Use
circa 1773, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
lepidoptera
noun plural
lep·i·dop·tera ˌlep-ə-ˈdäp-tə-rə
1
capitalized : a large order of insects comprising the butterflies, moths, and skippers that as adults have four broad or lanceolate wings usually covered with overlapping and often brightly colored scales and that as larvae are caterpillars
2
: insects of the order Lepidoptera