Platyptera: flat and broad-winged: an ordinal term applied to insects with four net-veined wings, secondaries longitudinally folded beneath primaries; mouth mandibulate; prothorax free; transformations complete: Psocidae, Termitidae, Perlidae and Mallophaga. {Scanner's comment: These four groups are now placed in totally separate orders, and not families as these names imply}
Plecoptera or Plectoptera: plaited winged: an ordinal term applied to net-veined insects in which the secondaries are longitudinally folded beneath primaries; mouth mandibulate; body loosely jointed; prothorax free; metamorphosis incomplete: the term Plecoptera was used by Brauer for Perlidae; Plectoptera by Packard for the Ephemerida: there has been some confusion since, and both have been used in the Brauer sense.
Pleon: = abdomen; q.v.
Pleopoda: abdominal legs of larva: posterior legs of an adult.
Plesiobiosis: see symbiosis.
Plesiotype: any specimen identified with a described or named species by a person other than the describer.
Pleura: plural of pleuron or pleurum: the lateral sclerites between the dorsal and sternal portion of the thorax: in general, the sides of the body between the dorsum and sternum.
Pleural areas: on the metanotum of some Hymenoptera, the three spaces between the lateral and pleural carinae; the 1st or anterior = spiracular area; the 2d or central = middle pleural; the 3d or posterior = angular area.
Pleural carinae: in Hymenoptera, extend along the exterior margin of the metanotum.
Pleural pieces: the lateral sclerites of the thorax; see pleura.