Definition of "peripneustic" in English

adjective

1. (entomology) Of one of the categories of hemipneustic tracheal systems, in which the spiracles are in incomplete rows along each side of the body, as in the holopneustic arrangement, but with slightly fewer pairs of spiracles.

   • 1977 O.W. Richards & R.G. Davies Imms' general textbook of entomology pub. Methuen Peripneustic... spiracles in a row along each side of the body. In typical examples the prothoracic and abdominal spiracles are open, that of the metathorax being closed. This condition is found in the terrestrial larvae of the orders Neuroptera, Mecoptera, Lepidoptera, of many Hymenoptera Symphyta, and of many Coleoptera...