Salient features of insect orders

I) Introduction:-

Class Insecta is classified into subclass Apterygota and Pterygota. Under

Apterygota insect orders such as Protura, Diplura, Collembola and Thysanura
are included. Subclass Pterygota consists of two infraclasses, Paleoptera and
Neoptera. Paleoptera lack wing flexing mechanism. Wings articulate with the
thorax through humeral and axillary plates that are fused to the wing and thus
wings are incapable of folding over the abdomen. The wings of neoptera
articulate with the thorax through a set of discrete axillary plates that permit
the wing flexing over the abdomen at rest. Paleoptera consists of only two
orders i. e., Ephemeroptera and Odonata. All the other orders are grouped in
neoptera and these are further grouped as three separate divisions i.e.,
Polyneoptera, Paraneoptera and Oligoneoptera.

II)
1. Order: Collembola
• Coll:glue; embola: a bolt or wedge (collophore)
• Mouth parts entognathous, principally adapted for biting.
• Antennae usually 4 (maximum 6) segmented, the first 3 provided with
intrinsic muscles.
• Compound eyes absent.
• Abdomen 6 segmented with 3 pairs of pregenital appendages- a ventral
tube (collophore) on the first, minute retinaculum on third and forked
springing organ (furcula) on fourth abdominal segment.
2. Order :Protura
• Minute insects with entognathous piercing mouth parts.
• Antennae and eyes are lacking.
• Abdomen 11 segmented with a terminal telson, first 3 with a pair of small
appendages called styli.
• Forelegs sensory and held above the head. Metamorphosis is slight, chiefly
evident by an increase in the number of the abdominal segments following
each moult.
3. Order: Diplura
• Small to large, narrow bodied entognathous insects.
• Antennae moniliform, many segmented with intrinsic muscles.
4. Order: Archeognatha (Microcoryphia)
• Archeo:old; gnatha:jaw Micro:small; coryphia:head
• They resemble the silverfish (thysanura) but are more cylindrical, have a
somewhat arched thorax, large and contaguous compound eyes.
• The body is covered with scales and the largest members are about 15 mm
in length.
• Ocelli are present, tarsi 3 segmented, abdomen with a pair of styli on
segments 2-9.

5. Order: Zygentoma (Thysanura)-Silverfishes, Firebrats

• Thysan: bristle or fringe; Ura:tail: Insects with bristly tail
• They are moderate size to small insects, elongated and somewhat flattened,
with 3 tail like appendages at the posterior end of the abdomen.
6. Order: Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
• Ephemera: short lived; Pteron: wings
• The wings are membranous, with extensive venation and are held upright
like in a butterfly.
• The hind wings are much smaller than the forewings and may vestigial or
absent.
• The second segment of the thorax is enlarged.
• Adults have short, flexible antennae, large compound eyes and three ocelli.
In males of most species, eyes are large and front legs unusually long, for
locating and grasping females during mid-air mating.
• In some species, all legs, aside from the males front legs, are useless.
• The sternum of segment 9 forms the subgenital plate.
• Males have a pair of clasper like genital forceps on the distal margin of this
plate and a paired penes dorsal to this plate.
• The abdomen is roughly cylindrical, with ten segments and two long cerci
at the tip.
• Existence of subimago stage - a brief transitional stage that molts again into
a sexually mature adult (imago).

7. Order : Odonata
• Odont: tooth; referring to strong mandibles
• In adults of both dragonflies and damselflies body is elongate with well
developed mandibles.
• Compound eyes are large and often occupy most of the head, holoptic or
dioptic.
• There are three ocelli. Antennae are very small and inconspicuous, bristle
like.
• All four wings are elongate, many veined and membranous. The two pairs
of wings are equal or subequal, similar or dissimilar with pterostigma and
well developed nodus, legs are relatively long and suited for perching and
holding the prey, not for walking.
• Abdomen is long and slender, with ten visible segments. Cerci are
unsegmented.
• Male accessory genital organ is located on the second and third abdominal
segment.

8. Order: Plecoptera
• Pleco: folded or plaited; ptera: wings
• Stoneflies are medium-sized or small, somewhat flattened, soft bodied,
drab coloured insects with elongate setaceous antennae.
• Mouth parts are weak or reduced, of the chewing type; mandibles are
normal or vestigial.
• Wings are membranous and held flat over the back in repose. The front
wings are elongate and rather narrow and usually have cross veins between
M and Cu1 and between Cu1 and Cu2, hind pair are shorter than front
wings with well-developed anal lobes, held folded fanwise when at rest.
• While at rest they hold their wings flat over the abdomen. Tarsi 3-
segmented.
• Abdomen usually terminated by long multiarticulate cerci. Ovipositor
wanting.
 • They undergo simple metamorphosis and young ones are aquatic, with long
antennae and elongate cerci; tracheal finger like gills along sides of thorax
and about bases of legs. The naiads have two claws while mayfly naiads
have only one claw.
• Stoneflies resemble many other orthopteroid orders, but could be
distinguished by their characteristic wing venation, membranous forewings,
soft body integuments and in having truly aquatic nymphs.
III)
9. Order: Blattodea
• Blatta: cockroach
• Body flattened dorso-ventrally, head in response with chewing and biting
mouthparts directed downwards.
• Forewings when present usually modified into hardened tegmina which are
sometimes abbreviated or absent; hind wings if developed, membranous.
• Legs cursorial, sometimes fossorial; tarsi 5-segmented.
• Male genitalia asymmetrical, female ovipositor concealed.
• Cerci one to many segmented.
• Specialized stridulatory organs rarely present.
• Eggs usually contained in an ootheca which may be carried externally until
hatching or deposited on a substrate or retracted into uterus or brood sac
until parturition.
10. Order: Isoptera
• Iso:similar; pteron: wings
• Polymorphic, Mandibulate, exopterygotan neoptera, live in social units
composed of limited number of reproductive forms associated with
numerous wingless sterile soldiers and workers.
• Antennae filiform or moniliform.
• Wings when present are very similar, elongate, membranous and are held
flat over the body at rest, capable of being shed by basal fracture leaving
wing base or scale.
• Tarsi are usually 4 segmented. Cerci are short.
• External genitalia are rudimentary or lacking.
• Termites are closely related to Blattodea and Mantodea and occur mainly in
tropical and subtropical regions.
• Termites are the only hemimetabolous insects that exhibit true social
behavior with caste polymorphism
Reproductives: A termite colony usually contains a royal pair, in a royal
chamber, the king and queen, which are commonly primary reproductives that
have lost their wings after founding the colony originally.
Primary reproductive: Kings and queen, size may reach 11 cm in length and
these live in royal chamber. They are fully sclerotised individuals derived
from alates, with wing remnants in the form of small triangular scales and
having compound eyes. They found new colonies.
Supplementary reproductives or neotenics: These develop when king and
queen die or part of the colony is separated from the parent colony. These are
less heavily sclerotised and are either with or without any trace of wing
elements (brachypterans) or with rounded wing buds of variable size
(apterous). They have smaller compound eyes or they are eyeless. These
develop from nymphs and achieve sexual maturity without reaching fully
winged adult stage and without leaving the nest.
Sterile castes: soldiers: These are sterile males and females with heavily
sclerotised and greatly modified heads. They may or may not have compound
eyes. There are four types of soldiers.
Workers: They are sterile males and females only lightly sclerotised and
without special modifications and eyes. Wingless, eyeless but with well
developed mandibles. Workers are absent from Mastotermes, the
Kalotermitidae and Termopsidae, their place being taken by nymphal stages
or pseudergates the large blind apterous forms.

11. Order: Mantodea

• Mantodea: sooth sayer
• Mandibulate predaceous exopterygotan neoptera.
• Head not covered by pronotum. Forelegs raptorial with large mobile coxae.
• Pronotum without large descending lateral lobes.
• Procoxae are greatly lengthened and movably attached to pterothorax.
• Wing pads are not reversing. Specialized auditory and stidulatory organs
absent.
• Eggs are enclosed in ootheca. Pronymphal stage is present.
• Three ocelli are present.

12. Order: Grylloblattodea

• Gryllus: cricket; blatta: cockroach----
• They are apterous, mandibulate, exopterygote insects.
• The body is pale, soft, elongate and finely pubescent, about 15-30mm in
length.
• The antennae are long, 28-50 segmented and filiform.
• All legs censorial, tarsi 5 segmented. They lack auditory organs.
• Ovipositor is sword-like and strongly projecting, nearly as long as cerci.
Cerci are long and flexible, 5 or 8 segmented.
• Eyes are reduced or absent and ocelli absent.
• Order Grylloblattodea and zoraptera are absent in India.

13. Order : Mantophasmatodea

• Mantis: and phasma: similarly to the two orders Mantodea and
Phasmatodea
• This is the newest addition to the list of insect orders with only 3 members
• The consistently wingless Mantophasmatodea have a very uniform body
shape, which superficially resembles that of certain grasshoppers or stick
insects.
• The body length (without the antennae) ranges from 9-24mm, males
usually being somewhat smaller than females.
• The basic colour of the body is brown, grey, green, or yellow.
• The antennae are long and have many segments.
• The chewing mouthparts are generalised and directed downward. The tibiae
of the forelegs and midlegs bear on their inner surfaces (opposing the
femora) two rows of short thorns, which render the legs suitable for
grasping other insects.
In the females, abdominal segments eight and nine bear three pairs of
processes that together form a short ovipositor.
 14. Order: Dermaptera
• Derma: skin; ptera: wings
• Earwigs are elongate, dorso-ventrally flattened, prognathous insects with
chewing and bitting type of mouthparts, immature earwigs have fewer
antennal segments than do adults, with segments added at each moult.
• Fore wing is modified into very short leathery tegmina and is devoid of
veins. Hind wings are membranous semicircular and made up of an anal
fan, with modified radial venation and almost completely folded beneath
tegmina when at rest.
• Tarsi are 3 segmented. Legs short and cursorial. Cerci are unsegmented and
modified into heavily sclerotized forceps.

15. Order: Orthoptera

• Ortho: straight; ptera: wings
• The order Orthoptera consists of several well-known insects commonly
called grasshoppers, crickets, katydids, mole crickets, tree crickets, locusts
and others.
• They may be winged, with reduced wings or wingless. The winged forms
usually have 4 wings. The forewings are usually elongate, many-veined and
somewhat thickened and are called tegmina. In some species one or both
pairs are reduced and pad-like or absent.
• The body is generally elongate, antennae consist of several segments (15 or
more) and in several species longer than the body.
• Eggs are laid in soil pods or in plant tissue.
• Tarsal segments vary from 0 to 4 in the three legs.
 • Legs are variously modified for digging, walking or running or jumping in
different species. Legs also have sound production organs in some species
or hearing organs in some others.
16. Order: Phasmatodea
• Phasma: apparition, ghost like
• These are predominantly tropical insects remarkable for their close
resemblance to the foliage, or more frequently twigs of plants on which
they occur and feed.
• They do not have enlarged hind femora and they do not jump.
• Thera are three large apterous or winged phytophagous insects frequently
of elongate, cylindrical form, more rarely leaf like.
• They lack tympana and stridulatory organs.

IV)
17. Order: Embioptera (web spinners)
• Embio: lively; ptera: wings
• The web-spinners or “foot-spinners” are small, slender gregarious insects
living in silken tunnels.
• The antennae are filiform, ocelli are lacking and the head prognathous with
mandibulate chewing mouth parts.
• Tarsi are 3- segmented; first segment of anterior pair greatly inflated and
having silk glands. Hind femora greatly enlarged.
• Females are apterous, males usually with 2 pairs of similar wings. Radius
greatly thickened, remaining veins often reduced or vestigial.
 • Abdomen is 10-segmented and bears a pair of 2- segmented cerci;
generally asymmetrical in the male.

18. Order: Zoraptera

• Zor: pure; aptera: wingless
• These are minute, apterous forms are less than 3 mm long and alate forms
are about 7mm.
• They appear like termites and are gregarious. They may be wings or
apterous with 9-segmented moniliform antennae.
• Wings when present are membranous: fore wings are larger than hind
wings. Male genitalia specialised, sometimes assymetrical.
• Some wingless forms have a cephalic fontanelle and this gland may secrete
a pheromone that helps keep blind gregarious assemblage together in the
dark habitat.
• Physiologically this is a very interesting order sharing the character of both
blattoid-orthopteroid group (single segmented cerci, assymetrical male
genitalia) on the one hand and hemipteroid group (concentrated nervous
system and reduced malpighian tubules) on the other.

19. Order: Psocoptera

• Psoco: rub small, gnaw; jaw ptera: wings
• Psocids are small or minute, less than 6 mm long, soft bodied insects with
membranous wings held roof-like.
• Small free living exopterygote neoptera with large mobile head, Y shaped
suture prominent, ocelli present or absent.
• Mandibles asymmetrical, maxillae with 4-segmented palpy. \
20. Order:Phthiraptera
• Phthir: parasite; aptera: wings
• Exopterygoton Neoptera contain apterous insects living as ectoparaites of
birds and mammals.

(V)
21. Order:Thysanoptera
• Thysanos: fringe; ptera: wings
• These are small, usually slender exopterygotan Neoptera.
• Their mouth parts are asymmetrical, rasping and sucking type with right
mandible very much reduced or absent;
22. Order: Hemiptera
• Hemi: half; pteron: wing
• These are exopterygotan neoptera with piercing and sucking mouthparts.
• The mandibles and maxillae are stylet like and housed in sheath like labium
which does not take part in piercing.
23. Order: Megaloptera
• Megalo: large; pteron:wing
• Mandibulate endopterigotan neoptera. The mouth parts are not produced
into a beak.
24. Order : Raphidioptera
• Raphis-needle; pteron: wing
 • Mandibulate endopterygotan neoptera. The mouth parts are not produced
into a beak.
25. Order: Neuroptera
• Neuron: nerve like; pteron:wings.
• The adults of this order possess four membranous wings, with the
forewings and hindwings about the same size, and with many veins.
26. Order: Coleoptera
• Koleos : sheath; ptera : wings,
• These are endopterygotan neoptera with mandibulate mouth parts.
Forewings hardened, not folded, rigid elytra which usually meet edge to
edge in a straight line when at rest and partly or wholly cover the hind
wings and abdomen.
27. Order: Mecoptera
• Meco: long ; pteron-wing
• These are endopterygotan neoptera. Slender, moderately or small sized
usually carnivorous insects with filiform antennae.
28. Order: Siphonaptera
• Siphon: tube (referring to sucking mouthparts); aptera-without wings
• Hind legs are long and adapted for jumping. Larvae are apodous,
vermiform. Pupae are adecticous and exarate.
29. Order: Diptera
• Di: two; ptera: wings
• All dipterans have only one pair of wings, the front wings. The hind wings
are reduced to small, knobbed structures called halters, which function as
organs of equilibrium.
30. Order: Trichoptera (Caddisflies)
 • Tricho: hair; pteron : wings
• These are endopterygotan neoptera. Moth-like insects with long setaceous
antennae and the mandibles are either vestigial or absent.

31. Order: Strepsiptera

• Strepsis: twisted; pteron:wing
• These are endopterygotan neoptera with reduced mandibulate mouth parts.
Prothorax is reduced in size and metathorax is very much enlarged.
32. Order: Lepidoptera
• Lepidos: scale; pteron: wing
• Body, wings and appendages are covered with broad scales that give them
often bright and vibrant colour.
33. Order: Hymenoptera
• The name Hymenoptera is derived from the Greek words
"hymen" meaning membrane and "ptera" meaning wings.
• Except in sawflies, base of abdomen is constricted, in some distinctly
thread like.
• Antennal flagellum consists of a clavus, funicle and ring segments.

Summary:-
To summarise this topic, the most important morphological traits of the insects
belonging to 33 different orders are presented. The basic morphological and
ecological features are discussed order-wise to enable the students to enrich their
knowledge on entomology and facilitate the easy identification of insects.