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

Class Insecta (cont.)

Neoptera

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

  • 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 spun from glands on their front legs
  • Only males have wings
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
  • “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
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

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