All Topics  
Exopterygota

 
Exopterygota

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Exopterygota
 
 
  Topics Exopterygota Topic Home

The Exopterygota, also known as Hemipterodea, are a superorder of 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
Subclass

Subclass may refer to:* Subclass , a taxonomic rank intermediate between class and superorder* Subclass , a class that is derived from another class or classes...
 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....
 in the infraclass Neoptera
Neoptera

Neoptera is a classification group that includes almost all the winged insects, specifically those that can flex their wings over their abdomens....
, in which the young resemble adults but have externally-developing wings. They undergo a modest change between immature and adult, without going through a 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 stage. The nymphs develop gradually into adults through a process of moulting
Ecdysis

Ecdysis is the molting of the cuticula in arthropods and related groups . Since the cuticula of these animals is also the skeletal support of the body and is inelastic, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed....
.

The Exopterygota are a highly diverse insect superorder, with at least 130,000 living species divided between 15 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....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Exopterygota'
Start a new discussion about 'Exopterygota'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Exopterygota, also known as Hemipterodea, are a superorder of 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
Subclass

Subclass may refer to:* Subclass , a taxonomic rank intermediate between class and superorder* Subclass , a class that is derived from another class or classes...
 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....
 in the infraclass Neoptera
Neoptera

Neoptera is a classification group that includes almost all the winged insects, specifically those that can flex their wings over their abdomens....
, in which the young resemble adults but have externally-developing wings. They undergo a modest change between immature and adult, without going through a 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 stage. The nymphs develop gradually into adults through a process of moulting
Ecdysis

Ecdysis is the molting of the cuticula in arthropods and related groups . Since the cuticula of these animals is also the skeletal support of the body and is inelastic, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed....
.

The Exopterygota are a highly diverse insect superorder, with at least 130,000 living species divided between 15 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....
. They include termite
Termite

The termites are a group of social insects usually classified at the Taxonomy of Order Isoptera . As truly social animals, they are termed eusocial along with the ants and some bees and wasps which are all placed in the separate Order Hymenoptera....
s, locust
Locust

Locust is the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. The origin and apparent extinction of certain species of locust—some of which reached 6 inches in length—are unclear....
s, thrips, lice and stick insects, among many other types of insects.

They are distinguished from the Endopterygota
Endopterygota

The Endopterygota, also known as Holometabola, are insects of the subclass Pterygota which go through distinctive larval, pupal, and adult stages....
 (or Holometabola) 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 without going through a true pupal stage, though a few have something resembling a pupa (e.g., Aleyrodidae).

Ephemeroptera (mayflies) and 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) also have gradual wing development, this being a plesiomorphic trait. These two orders belong to the paraphyletic infraclass Paleoptera
Paleoptera

The name Palaeoptera has been traditionally applied to those primitive groups of winged insects that lacked the ability to fold the wings back over the abdomen as characterizes the Neoptera....
 however, which is not included in Neoptera. As opposed to Neoptera, they cannot fold their wings over their back in the horizontal
Horizontal

Horizontal may refer*Horizontal plane, in astronomy, geography, geometry and other sciences and contexts*Horizontal coordinate system, in astronomy...
 plane, only vertically (as damselflies do) if at all.

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.

More recently, there is increasing debate about how to subdivide the Exopterygota, and the Neoptera in general. It is realized that some presumed Exopterygota may in fact be basal neopterans, making the superorder paraphyletic, just as the Palaeoptera are now increasingly accepted to be among the winged insects in general.

Here is a complete list of living and Extinct orders of "exopterygotes", with some proposed subdivisions:

Superorder Exopterygota sensu stricto
  • Caloneurodea (Extinct)
  • Titanoptera (Extinct)
  • Protorthoptera
    Protorthoptera

    The Protorthoptera are an extinct order of Palaeozoic insects, and represent a wastebasket taxon and paraphyletic assemblage of Basal neoptera....
     (Extinct)
  • Plecoptera
    Plecoptera

    Plecoptera are an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. There are some 1,700 recorded species worldwide, and new ones are still being discovered....
     (stoneflies)
  • Embioptera
    Embioptera

    Webspinners or embiids are a small group of mostly tropical and subtropical insects, classified under the Subclass Pterygota. The order has also been referred to as Embiodea or Embiidina The name Embioptera comes from Greek language, embio meaning lively and ptera meaning wings, and refers to the flutt...
     (webspinners)
  • Zoraptera
    Zoraptera

    The insect order Zoraptera contains one family which in turn contains one extant genus, Zorotypus, though an extinct animal of the Cretaceous era is classified as Xenozorotypus burmiticus within the same family....
     (angel insects)
  • Dermaptera (earwigs)
  • Orthoptera
    Orthoptera

    The Orthoptera are an order of insects with paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, cricket s and locusts. Many insects in this order produce sound by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps....
     (grasshopper
    Grasshopper

    Grasshoppers are insects of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish them from Tettigoniidae, they are sometimes referred to as short-horned grasshoppers....
    s, etc)
Proposed superorder Dictyoptera
Dictyoptera

Dictyoptera includes three groups of polyneopterous insects - cockroaches , termites and mantids . While all modern Dictyoptera have short ovipositors, the oldest fossils of Dictyoptera have long ovipositors, much like members of the Orthoptera....
  • Phasmatodea
    Phasmatodea

    "Phasmid" redirects here. For the cloning vector used in genetics, see phagemid.The Phasmatodea are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects , walking sticks or stick-bugs , phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects ....
     (stick insects - tentatively placed here)
  • Notoptera
    Notoptera

    The insect order Notoptera, a group first proposed in 1915, has been largely unused since its original conception, but in the most recent classification of the lineage of insects that includes the Grylloblattodea and Mantophasmatodea, the name was resurrected and redefined so as to give a single order that includes both the living and fossil...
     (ice-crawlers & gladiators - tentatively placed here)
  • Blattaria (cockroaches)
  • Isoptera (termites)
  • Mantodea (mantids)
Proposed superorder Paraneoptera
  • Psocoptera
    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....
     (booklice, barklice)
  • Thysanoptera (thrips)
  • Phthiraptera (lice)
  • Hemiptera
    Hemiptera

    Hemiptera is an order of insects, comprising around 80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others. They range in size from 1 mm to around 15 cm, and share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts ....
     (true bugs)