An order of insects, including bees, wasps, and ants, characterized by locked pairs of membranous wings and high development of social or colonial behavior. [G. hymen, membrane, + pteron, wing]
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Hy·me·nop·tera .hī-mə-'näp-tə-rə n pl an order of highly specialized insects with complete metamorphosis that include the bees, wasps, ants, ichneumon flies, sawflies, gall wasps, and related forms, that often associate in large colonies with complex social organization, and that have usu. four membranous wings and the abdomen generally borne on a slender pedicel
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Hy·men·op·tera (hi″mən-opґtər-ə) [hymeno- + Gr. pteron wing] an order of insects usually having two pairs of well-developed membranous wings. It includes the families Apidae (bees), Formicidae (ants), and Vespidae (wasps).Medical dictionary. 2011.