Some insects have wings because flight helps them disperse, find mates, escape local crowding, or start new colonies. Other insects lack wings because they belong to primitively wingless lineages, are immature stages, are worker castes, or come from winged ancestors that later lost wings when flight stopped being useful. Insect wings are mainly adult structures […]

Alate insects are winged forms; apterous insects are wingless forms. The difference is most useful when comparing reproductive ants and termites, winged versus wingless aphids, or insects that are naturally wingless. In entomology, alate usually means an adult form with wings, often tied to dispersal or reproduction, while apterous means without wings, either because the

An alate is a winged form. In entomology, the word usually refers to the winged reproductive stage of social insects such as ants and termites, and it is also used for winged aphids. The same word appears in botany for plant parts with wings or wing-like expansions, including some seeds and fruits. The meaning depends