Alate#In botany
{{Short description|A winged reproductive caste from a social insect colony in its winged form}}
Alate (Latin ālātus, from āla (“wing”)) is an adjective and noun used in entomology and botany to refer to something that has wings or winglike structures.{{cite book
| title = Collins Dictionary
| publisher = Collins
| edition = Seventh
| date =2008
| pages =34
| language = en
| isbn = 9780007261123
}}
In entomology
File:Dorylus helvolus, a, Seringveld.jpg male alate]]
In entomology, "alate" usually refers to the winged form of a social insect, especially ants{{Cite book |last1=Hölldobler |first1=Bert |title=The ants |last2=Wilson |first2=Edward O. |date=1990 |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-04075-5 |location=Cambridge, Mass}}{{rp|209}} or termites,{{Cite journal |last=Mill |first=Alan E. |date=June 1983 |title=Observations on Brazilian termite alate swarms and some structures used in the dispersal of reproductives (Isoptera: Termitidae) |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222938300770231 |journal=Journal of Natural History |language=en |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=309–320 |doi=10.1080/00222938300770231 |issn=0022-2933|url-access=subscription }} though it can also be applied to aphids{{Cite journal |last1=Hodgson |first1=E. W. |last2=Venette |first2=R. C. |last3=Abrahamson |first3=M. |last4=Ragsdale |first4=D. W. |date=2005-12-01 |title=Alate Production of Soybean Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) in Minnesota |url=https://academic.oup.com/ee/article-lookup/doi/10.1603/0046-225X-34.6.1456 |journal=Environmental Entomology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=6 |pages=1456–1463 |doi=10.1603/0046-225X-34.6.1456|doi-access=free }} and some thrips.{{Cite journal |last1=Gilbert |first1=James D. J. |last2=Simpson |first2=Stephen J. |date=October 2013 |title=Natural history and behaviour of Dunatothrips aneurae Mound (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), a phyllode-gluing thrips with facultative pleometrosis: Natural History of Dunatothrips Aneurae |url=https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-lookup/doi/10.1111/bij.12100 |journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |language=en |volume=109 |issue=4 |pages=802–816 |doi=10.1111/bij.12100|doi-access=free }}
Alate females are referred to as gynes, and are typically those destined to become queens.{{Cite journal |last1=Ho |first1=Eddie K. H. |last2=Frederickson |first2=Megan E. |date=November 2014 |title=Alate susceptibility in ants |journal=Ecology and Evolution |language=en |volume=4 |issue=22 |pages=4209–4219 |doi=10.1002/ece3.1291 |issn=2045-7758 |pmc=4267860 |pmid=25540683|bibcode=2014EcoEv...4.4209H }} A "dealate" is an adult insect that shed or lost its wings ("dealation").{{Cite journal |last1=Tian |first1=Haisheng |last2=Vinson |first2=S. Bradleigh |last3=Coates |first3=Craig J. |date=2004-09-01 |title=Differential gene expression between alate and dealate queens in the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965174804001006 |journal=Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology |volume=34 |issue=9 |pages=937–949 |doi=10.1016/j.ibmb.2004.06.004 |pmid=15350613 |bibcode=2004IBMB...34..937H |issn=0965-1748|url-access=subscription }}
In botany
File:Euonymus alatus6.jpg has wing-like structures on the stems]]
In botany, "alate" refers to wing-like structures on some seeds that use wind dispersal. It is also used to describe flattened ridges which run longitudinally on stems.{{cite book
| last = Harrison
| first = Lorraine
| title = Latin for Gardeners
| publisher = Royal Horticultural Society
| date = 2012
| pages = 20
| language = en
| isbn = 9781845337315
}}
References
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External links
- {{Wiktionary-inline|alate}}
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{{entomology-stub}}