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The Endopterygota, also known as Holometabola, are insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s of the subclass Pterygota
Pterygota

Pterygota is a Subclass of insects that includes the winged insects. It also includes insect orders that are secondarily wingless .The pterygotan group comprises almost all insects....
 which go through distinctive larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
l, pupa
Pupa

A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in Holometabolism insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago....
l, and adult stages. They undergo a radical metamorphosis, with the larval and adult stages differing considerably in their structure and behaviour. This is called holometabolism
Holometabolism

Holometabolism, also called complete Metamorphosis , is a term applied to insect groups to describe the specific kind of insect development which includes four life stages - as an embryo, a larva, a pupa and an imago....
, or complete metamorphism.

The Endopterygota are among the most diverse insect superorders, with at least 680,000 living species divided between eleven orders
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
, containing insects such as butterflies
Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
, flea
Flea

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects whose mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood....
s, bee
Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
s, ant
Ant

Ants are Eusociality insects of the family Formicidae, and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolution from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and Evolutionary radiation after the rise of flowering plants....
s and beetle
Beetle

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....
s.

They are distinguished from the Exopterygota
Exopterygota

The Exopterygota, also known as Hemipterodea, are a superorder of insects of the subclass Pterygota in the infraclass Neoptera, in which the young resemble adults but have externally-developing wings....
 (or Hemipterodea) by the way in which their wings develop.






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The Endopterygota, also known as Holometabola, are insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s of the subclass Pterygota
Pterygota

Pterygota is a Subclass of insects that includes the winged insects. It also includes insect orders that are secondarily wingless .The pterygotan group comprises almost all insects....
 which go through distinctive larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
l, pupa
Pupa

A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in Holometabolism insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago....
l, and adult stages. They undergo a radical metamorphosis, with the larval and adult stages differing considerably in their structure and behaviour. This is called holometabolism
Holometabolism

Holometabolism, also called complete Metamorphosis , is a term applied to insect groups to describe the specific kind of insect development which includes four life stages - as an embryo, a larva, a pupa and an imago....
, or complete metamorphism.

The Endopterygota are among the most diverse insect superorders, with at least 680,000 living species divided between eleven orders
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
, containing insects such as butterflies
Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
, flea
Flea

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects whose mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood....
s, bee
Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
s, ant
Ant

Ants are Eusociality insects of the family Formicidae, and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolution from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and Evolutionary radiation after the rise of flowering plants....
s and beetle
Beetle

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....
s.

They are distinguished from the Exopterygota
Exopterygota

The Exopterygota, also known as Hemipterodea, are a superorder of insects of the subclass Pterygota in the infraclass Neoptera, in which the young resemble adults but have externally-developing wings....
 (or Hemipterodea) by the way in which their wings develop. Endopterygota (meaning literally "internal winged forms") develop wings inside the body and undergo an elaborate metamorphosis involving a pupal stage. Exopterygota ("external winged forms") develop wings on the outside of their bodies and do not go through a pupal stage. The latter trait is plesiomorphic however and not exclusively found in the exopterygotes, but also in groups such as Odonata
Odonata

Odonata is an Order of insects, encompassing Dragonfly and Damselfly . The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata. The term odonate has been coined to provide an English language name for the group as a whole, but is not in common usage; most Odonata enthusiasts avoid ambiguity by using the term true dragon...
 (dragonflies and damselflies) which are not Neoptera but more basal among insects.

Systematics

ITIS
Integrated Taxonomic Information System

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System is a partnership designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species....
 considers any subdivision of the Neoptera beyond the order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
s invalid, but this is almost universally rejected.

The Endopterygota are sometimes divided into three assemblages: Neuropteroida (Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Raphidioptera and Coleoptera), Hymenopteroida (Hymenoptera), and Panorpoida (Siphonaptera, Diptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Strepsiptera and Mecoptera). It was long believed that the hymenoptera
Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera is one of the larger order s of insects, comprising the sawfly, wasps, bees, and ants. The name refers to the membranous wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek language wikt:???? : membrane and wikt:pte??? : wing....
ns, with their highly-developed social systems, constituted the most advanced insects, despite their rather "primitive" anatomy
Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology that is the consideration of the body plan. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy and plant anatomy ....
 compared to flies and beetle
Beetle

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....
s for example.

More recently, this has increasingly been rejected and DNA sequence
DNA sequence

A DNA sequence or genetic sequence is a succession of letters representing the primary structure of a real or hypothetical DNA molecule or strand, with the capacity to carry information as described by the central dogma of molecular biology....
 data seems to verify that the hymenopterans are indeed among the most basal endopterygotes, whereas flies and flea
Flea

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects whose mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood....
s are often considered the most radically advanced insects. This calls the previous subdivision into question, and consequently several new taxa have been proposed, splitting up the Endopterygota. While some groups (such as the "sucking-stinging" fly-flea assemblage or the caddisfly-butterfly group) seem indeed to be good clade
Clade

A clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article in the conventional sense of "an a...
s, it is not likely that the relationships of the endopterygotes, or the neopteran insects in general, will be resolved in detail soon.

Superorder Endopterygota sensu stricto
  • Hymenoptera
    Hymenoptera

    Hymenoptera is one of the larger order s of insects, comprising the sawfly, wasps, bees, and ants. The name refers to the membranous wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek language wikt:???? : membrane and wikt:pte??? : wing....
     (ant
    Ant

    Ants are Eusociality insects of the family Formicidae, and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolution from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and Evolutionary radiation after the rise of flowering plants....
    s, bee
    Bee

    Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
    s, etc.)
  • Coleoptera (beetles)
  • Strepsiptera
    Strepsiptera

    The Strepsiptera are an order of insects with nine families making up about 600 species. The early stage larvae and the short-lived adult males are free-living but most of their life is spent as endoparasites in other insects such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches....
     (twisted-winged parasites)
Proposed superorder Neuropterida
Neuropterida

The Neuropterida are a clade of holometabolous insects. Well-known members are the lacewings, antlions and dobsonflies.Historically, they were known as Neuroptera, but this name nowadays refers to lacewings and their relatives only, which formerly were known as Planipennia....
/Neuropteroidea
  • Raphidioptera (snakeflies)
  • Megaloptera
    Megaloptera

    Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the Sialidae, dobsonflies and Fishfly, and there are about 300 known species. The Megaloptera were formerly considered part of a group then called Neuroptera, together with lacewings and snakefly, but these are now generally considered to be separate orders, with Neuroptera referring to the lac...
     (alderflies, etc.)
  • Neuroptera
    Neuroptera

    The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, Mantispidae, antlions, and their relatives. The order contains some 4,000 species....
     (net-veined insects)
Proposed superorder Mecopteroidea/Antliophora
  • Mecoptera
    Mecoptera

    Mecoptera are an order of insects with about 550 species in nine families worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called Scorpionfly after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion....
     (scorpionflies, etc.)
  • Siphonaptera (flea
    Flea

    Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects whose mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood....
    s and snow flea
    Snow flea

    Snow fleas are a species of springtail. They are so called because they can most easily be observed jumping about on the surface of snow on a warm winter day....
    s)
  • Diptera (true flies
    Fly

    True flies are insects of the Order Diptera , possessing a single pair of insect wing on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax....
    )
  • Protodiptera
    Protodiptera

    Protodiptera is an extinct order of insects....
     (fossil)
Proposed superorder Amphiesmenoptera
Amphiesmenoptera

Amphiesmenoptera is an insect superorder, established by Willi Hennig in his revision of insect taxonomy for two sister orders: Lepidoptera and Trichoptera....
  • Trichoptera
    Trichoptera

    Caddisflies, sedge-flies or rail flies are small moth-like insects having two pairs of hairy membranous insect wing. They are closely related to Lepidoptera which have scales on their wings, and the two orders together form the superorder Amphiesmenoptera....
     (caddisflies)
  • Lepidoptera
    Lepidoptera

    Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
     (butterflies
    Butterfly

    A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
    , moth
    Moth

    A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
    s)
Incertae sedis
Incertae sedis

Incertae sedis , abbreviation "inc. sed.", is a term used to define a taxonomy group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined....
  • Glosselytrodea
    Glosselytrodea

    Glosselytrodea is an extinct order of insects....
     (fossil)
  • Miomoptera
    Miomoptera

    Miomoptera is an extinct order of insects. It is considered to be a Common descent of all holometabolous insects, but because there is no known smooth transition between Miomoptera and other holometabolous insect orders it is considered to be in a separate superorder....
     (fossil)