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Pterygota

(Infraclass)

Overview

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Taxonomy

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The Infraclass Pterygota is a member of the Subclass Dicondylia. Here is the complete "parentage" of Pterygota:

The Infraclass Pterygota is further organized into finer groupings including:

Orders

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Ascaridida

The order Ascaridida includes several families of parasitic roundworms with three "lips" on the anterior end. They were formerly placed in the subclass Rhabditia by some, but morphological and DNA sequence data rather unequivocally assigns them to the Spiruria. The Oxyurida and are occasionally placed in the Ascaridida as superfamily Oxyuroidea, but while they seem indeed to be Spiruria, they are not as close to Ascaris as such a treatment would place them. [more]

Blattaria

Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations. About four species are well known as pests. [more]

Coleoptera

Coleoptera () is an order of insects commonly called beetle. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek ???e??, koleos, "sheath"; and pte???, pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms. About 40% of all described insect species are beetles (about 400,000 species), and new species are discovered frequently. Some estimates put the total number of species, described and undescribed, at as high as 100 million, but 1 million is a more accepted figure. The largest taxonomic family, the Curculionidae (the weevils or snout beetles), also belongs to this order. [more]

Decapoda

The decapods or Decapoda (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp. Most decapods are scavengers. It is estimated that the order contains nearly 15,000 species in around 2,700 genera, with approximately 3,300 fossil species. Nearly half of these species are crabs, with the shrimp (?3000 species) and Anomura (including hermit crabs, porcelain crabs, squat lobsters: c.?2500 species), making up the bulk of the remainder. The earliest fossil decapod is the Devonian Palaeopalaemon. [more]

Dermaptera

Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera, found throughout the Americas, Africa, Eurasia, Australia and New Zealand. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cerci, a pair of forceps pincers on their abdomen, and membranous wings folded underneath short , hence the scientific order name, "skin wings." Some groups are tiny parasites on mammals and lack the typical pincers. Earwigs rarely use their flying ability. [more]

Dicliptera

Diptera

True flies are insects of the order Diptera (from the Greek di = two, and ptera = wings). They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax. Apart from secondarily flightless insects (including some flies), the only other order of insects with any form of halteres are the Strepsiptera, and theirs are on the mesothorax, with the flight wings on the metathorax. [more]

Embiodea

[more]

Ephemeroptera

Mayflies are insects which belong to the Order Ephemeroptera (from the Greek = "short-lived", pteron = "wing", referring to the brief lifespan of adults). They have been placed into an ancient group of insects termed the Palaeoptera, which also contains dragonflies and damselflies. They are aquatic insects whose immature stage (called "naiad" or, colloquially, "nymph") usually lasts one year in freshwater. The adults are short-lived, from a few minutes to a few days depending on the species. About 2,500 species are known worldwide, including about 630 species in North America. Common names for mayflies include "dayfly", "shadfly", "Green Bay fly", "lake fly", "fishfly" (in the Great Lakes region of North America), "midgee", "canadian soldiers" and "jinx fly". [more]

Euglenida

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Geroptera

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Glosselytrodea

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Grylloblattodea

Grylloblattidae is a family of extremophile and wingless insects that live in the cold on top of mountains. It belongs, as Mantophasmatidae, to the order of Notoptera. [more]

Hemiptera

Hemiptera () is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs (cf. bug), comprising around 50,000?80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others. They range in size from 1 millimetre (0.04 in) to around 15 centimetres (6 in), and share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts. Sometimes the name true bugs is applied more narrowly still to insects of the suborder Heteroptera only. [more]

Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek (hymen): membrane and pte??? (pteron): wing. The hindwings are connected to the forewings by a series of hooks called hamuli. [more]

Isoptera

Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera (see taxonomy below), but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea. While termites are commonly known, especially in Australia, as "white ants," they are only distantly related to the ants. [more]

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera ( le-pi-dop-t?-r?) is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies (called lepidopterans). It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies. The term was coined by Linnaeus in 1735 and is derived from Ancient Greek ?ep?d?? (scale) and pte??? (wing). Comprising an estimated 174,250 species, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, the Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest that the order may have more species than earlier thought, and is among the four most speciose orders, along with the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and the Coleoptera. [more]

Mantodea

Mantodea (or mantises) is an order of insects that contains approximately 2,200 species in 15 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae. Historically, the term mantid was used to refer to any member of the order because for most of the past century, only one family was recognized within the order; technically, however, the term only refers to this one family, meaning the species in the other 14 recently established families are not mantids, by definition (i.e., they are empusids, or hymenopodids, etc.), and the term "mantises" should be used when referring to the entire order. [more]

Mantophasmatodea

Mantophasmatodea is a suborder of carnivorous African insects discovered in 2002, originally considered to be a new order, but since relegated to subordinal status, and comprising the single family Mantophasmatidae. It belongs, as Grylloblattidae, to the order of Notoptera. [more]

Mecoptera

Mecoptera (from the Greek: meco- = "long", -ptera = "wings") are an order of insects with about 550 species in nine families worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are a prominent family of elongate insects known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered by various males. [more]

Megaloptera

Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, and there are about 300 known species. [more]

Megasecoptera

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Miomoptera

Miomoptera is an extinct order of insects. Although it is thought to be a common ancestor of all holometabolous insects, because no smooth transition between Miomoptera and other holometabolous insect orders is known it is considered to be in a separate order unto itself. [more]

Neuroptera

The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order contains some 6,010 species. Traditionally, the group that was once known as Planipennia, with the Neuroptera at that time also including alderflies, fishflies, dobsonflies and snakeflies, but these are now generally considered to be separate orders (the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera). Sometimes the name Neuropterida is used to refer to these three orders as a group. This is either placed at superorder rank, with the Endopterygota becoming an unranked clade above it, or the Endopterygota are maintained as a superorder, with an unranked Neuropterida being a part of them. Within the endopterygotes, the closest living relatives of the neuropteridan clade are the beetles. The common name lacewings is often used for the most widely known net-winged insects - the green lacewings (Chrysopidae) - but actually most members of the Neuroptera are referred to as some sort of "lacewing". [more]

Odonata

Odonata is an order of insects, encompassing dragonflies (Anisoptera/Epiprocta) and damselflies (Zygoptera). The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata, but the back-formation odonate is a more correct English name for the group as a whole. Odonata enthusiasts avoid ambiguity by using the term true dragonfly, or simply Anisopteran, when referring to just the Anisoptera. Some 5,900 species have been described in this order. [more]

Orthoptera

Orthoptera is an order of insects with paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, crickets and locusts. Many insects in this order produce sound (known as a "stridulation") by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps. The tympanum or ear is located in the front tibia in crickets, mole crickets, and katydids, and on the first abdominal segment in the grasshoppers and locusts. These organisms use vibrations to locate other individuals. [more]

Palaeodictyoptera

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Paoliida

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Perciformes

Perciformes, also called the Percomorphi or Acanthopteri, is one of the largest orders of vertebrates, containing about 40% of all bony fish. Perciformes means "perch-like". They belong to the class of ray-finned fish, and comprise over 7,000 species found in almost all aquatic environments. It contains about 155 families, which is the most of any order within the vertebrates. They are also the most variably sized order of vertebrates, ranging from the 7 millimeters (0.28 in) Schindleria brevipinguis to the 5 meters (16 ft) Makaira species. They first appeared and diversified in the Late Cretaceous. Among well-known members of this group are cichlids, sunfish/bluegill, damselfish, bass, and, of course, perch. [more]

Phasmatodea

The Phasmatodea (sometimes called Phasmida) are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects (in Europe and Australasia), walking sticks or stick-bugs (in the United States and Canada), phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects (generally the family Phylliidae). The ordinal name is derived from the Ancient Greek f?s?a phasma, meaning an apparition or phantom, and refers to the resemblance of many species to sticks or leaves. Their natural camouflage can make them extremely difficult to spot. Phasmatodea can be found all over the world in warmer zones, especially the tropics and subtropics. The greatest diversity is found in Southeast Asia and South America, followed by Australia. Phasmids also have a considerable presence in the continental United States, mainly in the Southeast. [more]

Phthiraptera

Lice (singular: louse) is the common name for over 3,000 species of wingless insects of the order Phthiraptera; three of which are classified as human disease agents. They are obligate ectoparasites of every avian and mammalian order except for monotremes (the platypus and echidnas), bats, whales, dolphins, porpoises and pangolins. [more]

Plecoptera

Plecoptera are an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. There are some 3,500 described species worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica. Stoneflies are believed to be one of the most primitive groups of Neoptera, with close relatives identified from the Carboniferous and Lower Permian geological periods, while true stoneflies are known from fossils only a bit younger. The modern diversity however apparently is of Mesozoic origin. [more]

Pleuronematida

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Protodonata

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Protoperlaria

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Protorthoptera

The Protorthoptera are an extinct order of Palaeozoic insects, and represent a wastebasket taxon and paraphyletic assemblage of basal neoptera. They appear during the Middle Carboniferous (late Serpukhovian or early Bashkirian), making them among the earliest known winged insects in the fossil record. may be expanded to form a shield. The group includes the ancestors of all other polyneopterous insects. [more]

Psocoptera

Psocoptera are an order of insects that are commonly known as booklice, barklice or barkflies. They first appeared in the Permian period, 295?248 million years ago. They are often regarded as the most primitive of the hemipteroids. Their name originates from the Greek word psokos meaning or rubbed and ptera meaning wings. There are more than 5,500 species in 41 families in three suborders. Many of these species have only been described in recent years. [more]

Raphidioptera

Snakeflies are a group of insects in the order Raphidioptera, consisting of about 210 extant species. Together with the Megaloptera they were formerly placed within the Neuroptera, but now these two are generally regarded as separate orders. [more]

Siphonaptera

Fleas are the insects forming the order Siphonaptera. They are wingless, with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Fleas are external parasites, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals (including bats and humans) and birds. [more]

Strepsiptera

The Strepsiptera (known in older literature as twisted-winged parasites) are an endopterygote order of insects with ten families making up about 600 species. The early stage larvae and the short-lived adult males are free-living, but most of their lives are spent as endoparasites in other insects such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches. [more]

Syntonopterodea

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Thysanoptera

Thrips (Order Thysanoptera) are tiny, slender insects with fringed wings (thus the scientific name, from the Greek thysanos (fringe) + pteron (wing)[]). Other common names for thrips include thunderflies, thunderbugs, storm flies, thunderblights, and corn lice. Thrips species feed on a large variety of sources, both plant and animal, by puncturing them and sucking up the contents. A large number of thrips species are considered pests, because they feed on plants with commercial value. Some species of thrips feed on other insects or mites and are considered beneficial, while some feed on fungal spores or pollen. So far around 5,000 species have been described. Thrips are generally tiny (1 mm long or less) and are not good flyers, although they can be carried long distances by the wind. In the right conditions, many species can exponentially increase in population size and form large swarms, making them an irritation to humans. [more]

Trichoptera

The caddisflies are an order, Trichoptera, of insects with approximately 12,000 described species. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, they are small moth-like insects having two pairs of hairy membranous wings. They are closely related to Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) which have scales on their wings, and the two orders together form the superorder Amphiesmenoptera. Caddisflies have aquatic larvae and are found in a wide variety of habitats such as streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, spring seeps, and temporary waters (vernal pools). The larvae of many species make protective cases of silk decorated with gravel, sand, twigs or other debris. The name "Trichoptera" comes from Greek: (thrix, "hair") + pte??? (pteron, "wing"). [more]

Zoraptera

The insect order Zoraptera contains a single family, the Zorotypidae, which in turn contains one extant genus with 34 species, Zorotypus as well as 9 extinct species. [more]

At least 33 species and subspecies belong to the Order Zoraptera.

More info about the Order Zoraptera may be found here.

Sources

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Last Revised: August 24, 2012
2012/08/24 20:00:15