Taxonomic Classification of

Selected Insect Taxa

Classes and Orders of “Non-insect” Hexapods
(Entognathous hexapods)

 Preoral cavity enclosed laterally by pleural folds which grow down

from sides of head to fuse with labium
 Mandibles mobile, adapted for piercing, cutting and triturating small
particles
 Hypopharynx is well-developed; maxillary and labial palpi reduced
or absent
 Head, usually prognathous
 Eyes are rudimentary or absent
 Abdominal segments with modifies appendages or rudimentary
limbs
 (1) Class and Order COLLEMBOLA

 Springtails, Snowfleas – usually small, elongate and globular hexapods.

Body is soft, without distinct sclerites but clothed with hairs and sometimes
scales. The name springtail comes from the ability of some species to jump
using the furcula.
Habits – They are most numerous in moist habitats, particularly in soil and leaf
litter, under bark and decaying logs.
(2) Class and Order PROTURA
 Proturans – are minute whitish hexapods, 0.6-1.5mm. Eyes, wings,
cerci, and antennae wanting. Front legs carried in an elevated
position like antennae. Metamorphosis simple or slight.
Habits – they occur in moist soil, moss, leaf mold, under bark, and in
rotting wood. They are however, rather rare and not frequently
collected.
(3) Class and Order DIPLURA

 Diplurans – are usually small

insects with many-segmented
antennae and elongate body.
Meamorphosis simple or slight
Habits – They are usually
fond in soil and leaf litter,
under bark, or under stones
and logs. They are fragile
and negatively phototropic.
Class INSECTA (True insects; Ectognathous hexapods;
Blattoid-Orthopteroid Orders)

Minute to very large

Head normally hypognathous
Eyes, compound; ocelli normally present
Antennae are consist of intrinsic muscles
Maxillary and labial palpi are normally well-
developed
Thorax, well-developed with pleaural sclerites
Cerci, usually present
Subclass Apterygota

Primitively wingless, terrestrial insects

Thorax, with three subequal, separate segments;
pleurites are small; abdomen with usually 11
segments
Cerci present in all orders
Ametabolous development
(4) THYSANURA
 Silverfish, bristletails – elongate, rarely oval, wingless insects, with 2 or
3 tail-like appendage at the end of the abdomen. Most species are
brownish, grey or white and have forms with scales exhibiting
metallic luster.
Habits – they hide during the day under bark, stones, ground litter,
in rock crevices and various domestic situations.
Subclass PTERYGOTA

Winged insects
Winged, or secondarily wingless
Thoracic segments are usually large
Spiracles with regulatory apparatus
Mating always by copulation
Metamorphosis slight to complete
Ecdysis stops after sexual maturity
Division EXOPTERYGOTA
Wings developed in external sheaths
Metamorphosis, slight or gradual

Infraclass Paleoptera
Primitively winged insects
Fore- and hindwings articulated to thorax by humeral
and axillary plates, which are fused with the veins and do
not allow the wings to be folded against the body when
at rest
Wing venation of recent orders are triadic (network of
crossveins)
Nymphs
(5) Order EPHEMEROPTERA
 Mayflies – delicate, soft-bodied insects with poorly sclerotized body
and wings. They have large eyes and minute antennae, 2 or usually
3 long jointed appendage at the of the abdomen. The wings have
many crossveins and the hind wings are always relatively small.
Habits – the naiads pass through a large and infinite number of
instars, sometimes as many as 27. The subimaginal instar usually
lasts not more than a day and differs from the adult or imago by
usually clouded wing membrane. Mayflies are the only insects
that molt after acquiring functional wings. The adults live from a
few hours to a day or 2 in many species.
(6) ODONATA

Dragonflies (Anisoptera ) and damselflies (Zygoptera) –

remarkable group of insects. They numerous and
successful but by evolutionary standards they are quite
out of date. In their structure, they display archaic
features, especially in venation and musculature of
wings. In spite of this, their speed and agility in flight
excels that of most modern insects.
Habits – they are usually found near bodies of water where naiads
live, but many are strong fliers, often flying in tandem, the male
holding the female by the back of the head of the prothorax with
the appendages of his abdomen. Eggs laid in aquatic vegetation
or are washed off end of abdomen when female flies low over
water. All are predaceous, feeding on mosquitoes, midges and
other small insects
(6) ODONATA - Dragonflies
(6) ODONATA – Damselflies
(7) BLATTODEA – Infraclass Neoptera
 Cockroaches – short, broad, and dorsoventrally flattened insects with the
head nearly or completely covered from above by the large, shield-like
pronotum. They are usually of a testaceous or dark mahogany color but
some tropical species are brightly colored.
 Habits – They are a group of predominantly tropical insects. Some species have
become cosmopolitan and are well-known domestic pests. They are found in or
on the ground, among low vegetations and debris, but some inhabit caves. The
domestic species are omnivorous while the wild species largely feed on dead
animal matter
(8) ISOPTERA
 Termites – they are small, soft-bodied, usually pale-colored, social and
polymorphic insects living in large communities composed of reproductive
morphs together with numerous wingless, sterile soldiers and workers.
Habits – termite colonies occur in ground or in wood. They feed
principally on wood or other vegetable materials. Four castes are usually
present in one colony: reproductive castes, supplementary reproductive,
workers, soldiers in some species, a nasute caste. Reproductives are
produced in large numbers at certain seasons and leave the colony in a
swarm.
(9) MANTODEA
 Preying mantids – usually large insects with a distinctive
appearance. They are essentially terrestrial forms occurring
predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions.
Habits – they are predaceous, and usually lie in wait for their prey
with the front legs raised in a peculiar supplicatory posture. Eggs
are laid in paper-mache-like cases attached to weeds and twigs.
They are solitary insects frequenting shrubs, tall herbs or trunk of
trees, but a few species live on the ground.
(10) PHASMATODEA
 Walking stick, leaf insects - the phasmids are large, winged or
apterous insects, mostly elongate, cylindrical form, rarely flattened
and leaf-like. They are predominantly tropical species, remarkable
for their protective resemblance to leaves or, more frequently twigs
of vegetation.
Habits – eggs are laid singly, usually falling to the ground and
resemble seeds very closely. Some species are parthenogenetic
(only females develop from unfertilized eggs). Exhibits autonomy
or the ability to regenerate legs broken off from stimulation or
injury. They are also capable of rapid physiological color changes.
Catalepsy or a condition of suspended animation and loss of
voluntary motion in which the legs hold any position they are
placed in and well defined diurnal rhythms in activity and
behavior are two further phenomena found in some phasmid
scpecies
 (10) PHASMATODEA

Walking stick, stick insects Leaf insects

(11) ORTHOPTERA

 Locusts, grasshoppers, katydids, crickets – medium or large-sized,

winged, brachypterous or apterous insects. They occur in all but the
coldest and are best represented in the tropics.
Habits – many of them make sound by rubbing one body part
against another. Males generally produce sounds called “songs”
which function mainly in getting the sexes together. Each species
has a distinctive song and some species can produce more than
one types of sound. They are plant-feeders and a few species
increase to enormous numbers, migrating to long distances.
(11) ORTHOPTERA
(12) DERMAPTERA
 Earwigs – small to medium-sized, elongate and flattened insects with a
mobile, telescopic abdomen that ends in a pair of forceps. They vary in
color from brown to black and range from about 7-50mm long.
Habits – they are nocturnal, spending the day in debris, under bark, and
in other protected habitats. They are chiefly plant feeders or scavengers.
Some species have glands near the base of the abdomen and when
disturbed eject a foul-smelling secretion which serves as a means of
defense. Eggs are laid in holes in the ground or in debris and the female
usually guards the eggs until they hatch.
(13) EMBIOPTERA
 Webspinners – fragile insects with soft cuticle and weak powers of flight.
They are somber colored, being either brown or yellowish brown, with
cloudy wings. The males are usually winged and the females are apterous.
Habits – they live in colonies in silken tunnels in soil or debris and among
lichens or mosses. Silk is spun from glands in basal segment of front tarsi.
These insects are active and run rapidly, usually backwards; sometime
splay dead when disturbed. They feed chiefly on dead plant materials.
Eggs are laid in tunnels and are often covered with chewed particles. The
females watch over the eggs
 (14) PLECOPTERA
 Stoneflies – soft-bodied insects of moderate to rather large size. They are of interest
because of their archaic features in their structure and the aquatic habits of their
nymphs.
Habits – most of them are poor fliers, and seldom found far from water. Many are
nocturnal and during the day rest on stones, under bridges and other places near
water. Many are attracted to light. Eggs are laid in masses on surface of water.
Adults of many species have poorly developed mandibles and do not feed; others
with well-developed mandibles and feed on blue-green algae and various plant
materials. They serve as food for fish and other animals.
Class INSECTA (True insects; Ectognathous hexapods;
Hemipteroid Orders)
(15) PSOCOPTERA
 Barklice and Booklice – small, soft-bodied, usually delicate insects that are less
than 2mm in size.
 Habits – they feed chiefly on dry organic matter, molds and fungi. They are found
among debris, under bark or stones, on bark of trees and a few species in buildings,
among old books and paper materials. Most are active and fast-running.
 (16) PHTHIRAPTERA
 Biting and sucking lice – flat-bodied insects entirely adapted for
ectoparasitic life. The majority of the biting species (Mallophaga)
infest birds while among the sucking species (Anoplura), two infest
man, about a dozen occur on domestic animals.
Habits – biting lice spend their entire life on their host. Transfer from one
host to another usually occurs when host come in contact and they are
unable to survive very long off a host. Each species infests one or two
species of related hosts and lives on a particular part of the host’s body.
(17) HEMIPTERA
Bugs, leaf and tree hoppers, aphids, whiteflies,
mealybugs and scale insects – the true bugs are readily
recognized by the form of their mouthparts which are
adapted for piercing and sucking. The habit of sucking is
prevalent throughout their life except in the male
Coccoidea whose adults have atrophied mouthparts.
Other body structures vary greatly within the order.
Habits –members of this large order vary in habits. Most
bugs are terrestrial, but many are aquatic, and a few
are external parasites of vertebrates, many species are
plant feeders while others are predaceous.
Suborders: STERNORRYNCHA, AUCHENORRYNCHA, & HETEROPTERA
 (17) HEMIPTERA: Sternorryncha

Psyllids Mealy bugs,

Aphids
scale insects
(17) HEMIPTERA: Auchenorryncha

Cicadas Leaf- or tree hoppers

(17) HEMIPTERA: Heteroptera

Land bugs Water bugs

 (18) THYSANOPTERA
 Thrips – they are small or minute, narrow-bodied, pale to yellow,
yellowish-brown or black insects
Habits – most thrips are plant feeders and many are found among
all kinds of growing vegetation, both on foliage and leaves; others
are subcortical or frequent moist decaying debris such as wood,
leaf litter and fungi. A few species are predaceous on other small
arthropods and many feed on fungal spores
Class INSECTA (True insects; Ectognathous
hexapods; Neuropteroid Orders)
(19) NEUROPTERA
 Lacewings and antlions – adult lacewings vary from minute to large
species which are often highly colored and attractively patterned.
Many have long, dense hairs in the body and a few are moth-like in
appearance. They may be recognized by the end-branching of the
main veins and the roof like position of the wings at repose.
 Habits – eggs are laid singly in sand or soil or may be cemented to
some substrate either singly or in clusters; in some species, eggs are
stalked.
(19) NEUROPTERA
(20) COLEOPTERA
 Beetles – Coleoptera is by far the largest order in the animal
kingdom. This group includes some of the largest and also some of
the smallest living insects. Although beetles are the predominant
insects, they are not seen frequently as species of other orders
because of their concealed habits.
 Habits – most are ground inhabiting, living in soil or in various
decaying animal and vegetable matter. Others are true aquatic
insects while many other families are partly aquatic. A considerable
number are associated with herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees.
(20) COLEOPTERA
(21) STREPSIPTERA
 Twisted-winged insects – these are most aberrant of all insects
because the females are internal parasites while the males are free-
living. All species are small or minute, black or brown and the female
puparium that protrudes from the host’s body is usually yellowish
brown.
 Habits – these are said to be very anomalous insects whose larvae
are endoparasitic and majority of the females remain all their lives in
a puparium which sticks out from the body of the host. Their hosts
come mostly from the orders auchenorrhynchous hemiptera,
hymenoptera, and diptera.
Class INSECTA (True insects; Ectognathous
hexapods; Panorpoid Orders)
(22) MECOPTERA
 Scorpionflies – they are regarded as slightly changed survivors of
insects that were the ancestors of the endopterygote orders.
 Habits – both larvae and adults may be carnivorous. Adults are
found mostly in swampy shaded areas among herbaceous
vegetation.
(23) SIPHONAPTERA
 Fleas – group of wingless, external blood-sucking parasites of birds
and mammals. They are rather uniform in structure, flattened from
side to side with tough leathery bodies, protection against
scratching .
 Habits – they are active insects that generally move freely over the
host’s body and from one host to another. They feed on organic
dusts of feathers, fur or wool, on the dried blood that the adult fleas
provide by sucking far more than they need and voiding it
undigested.
(24) DIPTERA
 Flies – these are two-winged or “true” flies whose diagnostic feature
is a single pair of wings. The hindwings have become modified to
form a small stalk- or club-shaped organs called, halters. They vibrate
in phase with the forewings and serve to control flight.
 Habits – they occur in many different habitats; each species usually
found near the habitat of its larvae. Larvae are usually leg-less or
worm-like, and often lack a well-developed head. They live in water,
soil, decaying matter, or in plant and animal tissues.
(25) TRICHOPTERA
 Caddisflies – slender, elongate, moth-like insects that are related to
the more primitive moths but their wings are covered with short, fine
hairs and not with scales.
 Habits – largely crepuscular or nocturnal flying in a jerky, erratic
manner. They may be found resting during the day on vegetation,
trees, rocks and under bridges, usually near their breeding sites.
(26) LEPIDOPTERA
 Moths and butterflies – butterflies are mostly large insects with diurnal,
whereas moths are nocturnal or crepuscular, and attract less
attention. The two most diagnostic features of this order is the
remarkable coiled proboscis and the minute overlapping scales
covering the wings.
 Habits – they feed principally on nectar and other liquid food, and
many species are common visitor of flowers. They are mostly strong
flyers and are rather erratic.
(27) HYMENOPTERA
 Bees, ants, wasps – this order has one constant feature; the wings
are connected by a row of minute hooks on the hindwing which
engage in a fold on the hind margin of the forewing. Also, the
anterior segment of the abdomen is fused to the thorax.
 Habits – they are found in many habitats. Some are biological
indicators, some are parasitoids, and some are pollinators.