Phasmida
/ˈfazmɪdə
/plural noun
1 Entomology An order of insects that comprises the stick insects and leaf insects. They have very long bodies that resemble twigs or leaves.Leaf insects, so-called because they resemble broad leaves, are grouped in the same order as stick insects, Phasmida, however only about 30 species of the total 3000 are leaf insects....
- Phasmida have elongate bodies. Our species are wingless as adults. However, some tropical forms are winged and are called leaf insects.
- Phasmida are hemimetabolous and generally elongate, though some forms (Leaf-Insects) are broad and flattened.
2 Zoology A class of nematodes that includes the parasitic hookworms and roundworms. Also called Secernentea.
Derivatives
phasmid
- A strange order of Insects, close to the coleopterans, has been given the name of phasmids, indicating their ability to remain invisible to neighbors by imitating the forms and colors of the trees on which they alight.
- Today's stick insects (or phasmids, as scientists call them) show great variety; e.g. some have wings and some do not.
- We found anti-GPA - 3 antibody staining in the cilia, cell bodies, and axons of many amphid cells and the two phasmid cells PHA and PHB.
Origin
Modern Latin (plural), from Latin phasma 'apparition', from Greek.