28 ORDERS OF INSECTS

1. Order Thysanura
The silverfish and firebrats are found in the order Thysanura. They are
wingless insects often found in people's attics, and have a lifespan of
several years. There are about 600 species worldwide.
2. Order Diplura
Diplurans are the most primitive insect species, with no eyes or wings.
They have the unusual ability among insects to regenerate body parts.
There are over 400 members of the order Diplura in the world.
3. Order Protura
Another very primitive group, the proturans have no eyes, no
antennae, and no wings. They are uncommon, with perhaps less than
100 species known.
4. Order Collembola
The order Collembola includes the springtails, primitive insects without
wings. There are approximately 2,000 species of Collembola worldwide.
5. Order Ephemeroptera
The mayflies of order Ephemeroptera are short-lived, and undergo
incomplete metamorphosis. The larvae are aquatic, feeding on algae
and other plant life. Entomologists have described about 2,100 species
worldwide.
6. Order Odonata
The order Odonata includes dragonflies and damselflies, which
undergo incomplete metamorphosis. They are predators of other
insects, even in their immature stage. There are about 5,000 species in
the order Odonata.
7. Order Plecoptera
The stoneflies of order Plecoptera are aquatic and undergo incomplete
metamorphosis. The nymphs live under rocks in well flowing streams.
Adults are usually seen on the ground along stream and river banks.
There are roughly 3,000 species in this group.
8. Order Grylloblatodea
Sometimes referred to as "living fossils," the insects of the order
Grylloblatodea have changed little from their ancient ancestors. This
order is the smallest of all the insect orders, with perhaps only 25
known species living today. Grylloblatodea live at elevations above
1500 ft., and are commonly named ice bugs or rock crawlers.
9. Order Orthoptera
These are familiar insects - grasshoppers, locusts, katydids, and
crickets - and one of the largest orders of herbivorous insects. Many
species in the order Orthoptera can produce and detect sounds.
Approximately 20,000 species exist in this group.
10. Order Phasmida
The order Phasmida are masters of camouflage - the stick and leaf
insects. They undergo incomplete metamorphosis, and feed on leaves.

There are some 3,000 insects in this group, but only a small fraction of
this number are leaf insects. Stick insects are the longest insects in the
world.
11. Order Dermaptera
This order contains the earwigs, an easily recognized insect that often
has pincers at the end of the abdomen. Many earwigs are scavengers,
eating both plant and animal matter. The order Dermaptera includes
less than 2,000 species.
12. Order Embiidina
The order Embioptera is another ancient order with few species,
perhaps only 200 worldwide. The web spinners have silk glands in their
front legs, and weave nests under leaf litter and in tunnels where they
live. Web spinners live in tropical or subtropical climates.
13. Order Dictyoptera
The order Dictyoptera includes roaches and mantids. Both groups have
long, segmented antennae and leathery forewings held tightly against
their backs. They undergo incomplete metamorphosis. Worldwide,
there approximately 6,000 species in this order, most living in tropical
regions.
14. Order Isoptera
Termites feed on wood, and are important decomposers in forest
ecosystems. They also feed on wood products, and are thought of as
pests for the destruction they cause to man-made structures. There
are between 2,000 and 3,000 species in this order.
15. Order Zoraptera
Little is know about the angel insects, which belong to the order
Zoraptera. Though they are grouped with winged insects, many are
actually wingless. Members of this group are blind, small, and often
found in decaying wood. There are only about 30 described species
worldwide.
16. Order Psocoptera
Bark lice forage on algae, lichen, and fungus in moist, dark places.
Book lice frequent human dwellings, where they feed on book paste
and grains. They undergo incomplete metamorphosis. Entomologists
have named about 3,200 species in the order Psocoptera.
17. Order Mallophaga
Biting lice are ectoparasites that feed on birds and some mammals.
There are an estimated 3,000 species in the order Mallophaga, all of
which undergo incomplete metamorphosis.
18. Order Siphunculata
The order Siphunculata are the sucking lice, which feed on the fresh
blood of mammals. Their mouthparts are adapted for sucking or
siphoning blood. There are only about 500 species of sucking lice.
19. Order Hemiptera
Most people use the term "bugs" to mean insects; an entomologist
uses the term to refer to the order Hemiptera. The Hemiptera are the

true bugs, and include cicadas, aphids, and spittlebugs, and others.
This is a large group of over 70,000 species worldwide.
20. Order Thysanoptera
The thrips of order Thysanoptera are small insects that feed on plant
tissue. Many are considered agricultural pests for this reason. Some
thrips prey on other small insects as well. This order contains about
5,000 species.
21. Order Neuroptera
Commonly called the order of lacewings, this group actually includes a
variety of other insects, too: dobsonflies, owlflies, mantidflies, antlions,
snakeflies, and alderflies. Insects in the order Neuroptera undergo
complete metamorphosis. Worldwide, there are over 5,500 species in
this group.
22. Order Mecoptera
This order includes the scorpionflies, which live in moist, wooded
habitats. Scorpionflies are omnivorous in both their larval and adult
forms. The larva are caterpillar-like. There are less than 500 described
species in the order Mecoptera.
23. Order Siphonaptera
Pet lovers fear insects in the order Siphonaptera - the fleas. Fleas are
blood-sucking ectoparasites that feed on mammals, and rarely, birds.
There are well over 2,000 species of fleas in the world.
24. Order Coleoptera
This group, the beetles and weevils, is the largest order in the insect
world, with over 300,000 distinct species known. The order Coleoptera
includes well-known families: june beetles, lady beetles, click beetles,
and fireflies. All have hardened forewings that fold over the abdomen
to protect the delicate hindwings used for flight.
25. Order Strepsiptera
Insects in this group are parasites of other insects, particularly bees,
grasshoppers, and the true bugs. The immature Strepsiptera lies in
wait on a flower, and quickly burrows into any host insect that comes
along. Strepsiptera undergo complete metamorphosis, and pupate
within the host insect's body.
26. Order Diptera
Diptera is one of the largest orders, with nearly 100,000 insects named
to the order. These are the true flies, mosquitoes, and gnats. Insects in
this group have modified hindwings which are used for balance during
flight. The forewings function as the propellers for flying.
27. Order Lepidoptera
The butterflies and moths of the order Lepidoptera comprise the
second largest group in the class Insecta. These well-known insects
have scaly wings with interesting colors and patterns. You can often
identify an insect in this order just by the wing shape and color.
28. Order Trichoptera

Caddisflies are nocturnal as adults, and aquatic when immature. The

caddisfly adults have silky hairs on their wings and body, which is a key
to identifying a Trichoptera member. The larvae spin traps for prey with
silk. They also make cases from the silk and other materials which they
carry and use for protection.
8 CLASSES OF PHYLUM
Class Arachnida - spiders, ticks, mites, scorpions and others. This is a
diverse class which belongs to a subphylum of the Arthropoda known as the
Chelicerata. Chelicerata are characterized as having two distinct body
regions, a cephlothorax and an abdomen Chelicerates have six pairs of
appendages, the first two pairs being mouthparts and the following four pairs
being legs. They do not have antenna.
Class Crustacea - Lobsters, crayfish, crabs, shrimp. This is a very diverse
class. Its members display much variation in the tagmata and the
appendages. There are about 30,000 species of Crustacea. Most are aquatic,
the majority of which are marine. Crustaceans includes lobsters, crabs,
crayfish, shrimp, barnacles, and several less familiar forms. One of the latter
is the Isopoda, the sowbugs and pillbugs or roly-polys. Most people will likely
encounter only two orders, the Orders Decapoda and Isopoda.
Class Merostomata- Merostomata is the name given to a grouping of the
extinct Eurypterida (sea scorpions) and the Xiphosura (horseshoe crabs). The
term was originally used by James Dwight Dana to refer to Xiphosura only,
but was emended by Henry Woodward to cover both groups.
Class Diplopoda - Millipedes are usually cylindrical (sometimes slightly
flattened). Except for the first three trunk segments, each segment has two
pairs of short legs. Millipedes are found in damp places such as the soil, leaf
litter, or under logs and stones. Most millipedes are beneficial scavengers of
decaying plant material. A few attack living plants and are sometimes pests.
Even fewer are predacious. Millipedes do not bite man, but many give off a
foul-smelling fluid containing hydrogen cyanide which can be strong enough
to kill insects placed in a jar with a millipede.
Class Chilopoda - Centipedes are elongate and flattened. They are usually
found in somewhat protected places, such as in leaf litter, in the soil, under
bark, or in rotten logs. One species is commonly found in houses and other
buildings. Centipedes are predatory and feed on insects, spiders, and other
small animals. The larger centipedes can bite humans, but the bite is not
serious and is no more painful that the sting of a bee or wasp.The common
small centipedes of Nebraska are harmless to man. Overall, centipedes are
beneficial natural enemies of insects.

Class Insecta or Hexopoda - Insects are the most abundant life form now
known to science.Around 1,000,000 species have been described and
named. That is more than all the other known animals put together.
Class Trilobites - are an extinct group of arthropods that lived in the seas of
the world for about 380 Mya (million years ago), from the Precambrian 610
Mya to around the end of the Permian 230 Mya.
Class Insecta true insects are the most important members of the phylum
Arthropoda. Typical adult insects have one pair of antennae, three pairs of
legs, and three body regions: head, thorax, and abdomen. The class Insecta
is divided into some 29 to 40 major orders. Insects make up more than half
of all living things in the world. There are more than a million known species
of insects and there are many more waiting to be discovered.