Insects and People: Order of Insects Pt. 2- Neoptera, Polyneoptera, and Paraneoptera

Neoptera

Wings rotate and fold over the abdomen, or they did in ancestors)

What is Neoptera divided into?

Contains Polyneoptera and Paraneoptera

Polyneoptera (of Neoptera)

Chewing mouthparts, incomplete metamorphosis (hemimetabolous), front wings often modified to tegmina, well-developed cerci

Plecoptera

* “folded wing”
* ==Stoneflies==
* Ca. 3,500 species
* All aquatic as immatures
* Most have 2 tail appendages and gills on thorax
* Adults have large, fan-shaped hind wings under narrower front wings
* Some adults active in the winter

Embioptera

* “lively wings”
* ==Webspinners==
* Ca. 400 species
* Small, subsocial insects that like in silk galleries that they spin from glands on their front legs
* Only males have wings

What makes order Embioptera so special?

They can produce webs from their legs

Phasmatodea

* “Ghost”
* ==Stick and leaf insects==
* Ca. 3,000 species
* All are plant feeders
* Mostly rely on camouflage and chemical defense to protect from predators
* The longest living insects are Phasmatids
* Can be kept as pets

Orthoptera

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* “Straight wings”
* ==Grasshoppers and crickets==
* Ca. 30,000 species
* Forewings modified to relatively narrow, leathery tegmina if winged
* Most have saltatorial hindlegs
* Most are plant feeders, but some are predators

Dermaptera

* “Skin wings”
* ==Earwigs==
* Ca. 2,000 species
* Elongate insects with forewings, if present, that are short and leathery that protect the fan-shaped hind wings
* Most distinctive features are large forceps-like cerci
* Most are plant feeders, but some are predators

Notoptera

* “Back wings”
* ==Snow roaches and gladiators==
* Ca. 55 species
* Weird, wingless insects
* Gladiators are predators in arid, rocky African deserts, while snow roaches live at the foot of glaciers and feed on cold-immobilized insects
* Snow roaches die at temperatures above freezing

Which 2 insects are in Order Notoptera?

Snow roaches and gladiators

Zoraptera

* “pure wingless”
* ==Zorapterans or Angel Insects==
* 28 species
* Strange, tiny colonial insects with 2 adult forms
* wingless and blind
* or eyed, winged forms that shed their wings after dispersal
* Live in dead wood and feed mostly on fungi (detrivores)

Blattodea

* “cockroach”
* ==Cockroaches and termites==
* Ca. 8,500 species
* Cockroaches have forewings (if winged) modified into tegmina protecting fan-shaped hind wings, well developed cerci and antennae, and are generally flattened and oval in shape.
* Most are omnivores
* Some are important pests
* Termites are small, white, highly social cellulose feeders
* Until recently, termites had their own order called Isoptera

Mantodea

* “a kind of grasshopper”
* ==Mantises==
* Ca. 2,400 species
* Mostly robust insects with elongated prothoracic segments armed with strongly raptorial forelimbs
* All are predators
* Many use camouflage to avoid predators and to facilitate ambushing prey

Paraneoptera (of Neoptera)

Incomplete metamorphosis (hemimetabolous), no cerci, diverse mouthparts, often adapted to feeding on liquid diets

Which insect orders are in Paraneoptera?

Psocodea, Thysanoptera, and Hemiptera

Psocodea

* “Gnawer”
* ==Barklice, booklice, and true lice==
* Ca. 11,000 species
* All are small insects
* Barklice and booklice feed on fungi and other substances with chewing mouthparts, while true lice are all parasitic on vertebrates
* Most chewing lice feed on the skin and dander of birds
* Sucking lice are all blood feeders with piercing-sucking mouthparts on mammals

Thysanoptera

* “fringe wings”
* ==Thrips==
* Ca. 6,000 species
* Tiny, elongate insects with feather-like wings and cone-shaped heads with asymmetrical mouthparts adapted to feeding on cellular contents
* Most are plant feeders, while some are important pests and plant-disease vectors

Hemiptera

* “half-wings”
* ==True bugs and allies==
* Ca. 80-100,000 species
* All have piercing-sucking mouthparts adapted to feeding on liquid diets
* There are 3 suborders that vary in where their mouthparts are on their heads and the character of their wings, if they have them at all
* Most are plant feeders, while others are predators and a few are parasites
* Some are important pests, while some are aquatic

Which insects can you keep as pets?

Stick bugs