elytron

noun

1. A sheath or outer covering, especially around the spinal cord or over the hindwings of certain insects.

   “In a corner, the Darkling Beetle rustles in its Cage, its Elytra the same unforgiving white as the great sand-waste call’d ‘Kalahari’ lying north of here […]”

   “[…] the elytra covering the hind wings of the firefly lift like a light leather, suppler than any other beetle’s.”