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INSECT TAXONOMIC DIVERSITY By: Chase Murse INSECT ORDERS I. Ephemeroptera VI. Orthoptera XI. Diptera II. Odonata VII. Phasmida XII. Siphnoptera III. Blattaria VIII. Hemiptera XIII. Hymenoptera IV. Isoptera IX. Coleoptera XIV. Mantodea V. X. XV. Plecoptera Dermatptera Lepidoptera EPHEMEROPTERA • The lifespan of an adult mayfly is very short and varies depending on the species. The wings are membranous, with extensive venation. The hindwings are much smaller than the forewings, and may be vestigial or absent. ODONATA • Both dragonflies and damselflies belong to the Odonata and share many common features, then are a number of noticeable differences as well. • Dragonflies do not hunt in cold weather. Damselflies, however, are not as limited by temperature and have been observed hunting during cold spells. Males are territorial, sometimes patrolling for prey for hours at a time. BLATTARIA • The Blattaria includes the roaches, from the six-inch tropical roaches of South America to their small cousins that are probably tiptoeing through your kitchen right now. There are about 4,000 species worldwide. • Roaches arose in the Pennsylvanian period, about 280 million years ago, and have not changed much since ISOPTERA • Termites are social insects and live in colonies consisting of a queen, sterile workers and soldiers and winged reproductive males and females known as alates. Termites are often known as 'white ants' however these insects are very different from those in the order Hymenoptera to which ants belong. DERMAPTERA • Earwigs are a distinctive group of insects of small to medium size, ranging from 5 to 50 millimetres in length. Earwigs are sometimes confused with Staphylinid beetles, but can be distinguished from the latter by the presence of pincer-like cerci, which Staphylinid beetles lack. Earwigs are mostly dark coloured (brown to black). • •2 pairs of wings. The forewings are short and protectively hardened. The hind wings are membranous and folded in a fan-like way underneath the forewings when not in use. Some species are also wingless. ORTHOPTERA • The name Orthoptera is sometimes used for all the insects in the "orthopteroid" assemblage, including roaches, earwigs, mantises, and many others. However, it is more usual to restrict the Orthoptera (Greek for "straightwing") to the crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, and their kin. These insects are instantly recognizable by their long hind legs, which are modified for jumping. Most orthopterans can generate noise by rubbing special organs together on their legs or on their wings, a habit known as stridulation. PHASMIDA • The Phasmatodea (sometimes called Phasmida or Phasmatoptera) are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects (in Europe and Australasia), walking sticks or stick-bugs (in the United States and Canada), phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects (generally the family Phylliidae). • Their natural camouflage can make them extremely difficult to spot. Phasmatodea can be found all over the world in warmer zones, especially the tropics and subtropics. HEMIPTERA • The insects in this order are extremely diverse in their size, shape and colour. There are about 6000 described species in Australia, ranging in size from 1 to 110 millimetres in length. The name Hemiptera means 'half wing' and all hemipterans share the following features: • 2 pairs of wings, although some species may be wingless and others have only forewings. Wings are generally membranous but in some species the forewings may be hardened at the base COLEOPTERA • The Coleoptera, or beetles, includes many commonly encountered insects such as ladybird beetles (family Coccinellidae), click beetles (Elateridae), scarabs (Scarabaeidae), and fireflies (Lampyridae). They live throughout the world (except Antarctica), but are most speciose in the tropics. • The most distinctive feature of beetles is the hardening of the forewings into elytra. The elytra serve to protect the more delicate hind wings, as well as the dorsal surface of the abdomen, and may have been a key factor allowing them to exploit narrow passageways (for example, in leaf litter and under bark). LEPIDOPTERA • Lepidoptera are among the most successful groups of insects. They are found on all continents, except Antarctica. Lepidoptera inhabit all terrestrial habitats ranging from desert to rainforest, from lowland grasslands to montane plateaus but almost always associated with higher plants, especially angiosperms. DIPTERA • The Diptera include files, mosquitos, gnats, midges, and no-see-ums. There are about 120,000 known species of true flies alive today. Dipterans typically have sucking mouthparts, and may feed on plant juices or on decaying organic matter. A number of dipterans feed on blood, and some may transmit vertebrate diseases; certain mosquitos, for instance, transmit human malaria. SIPHONAPTERA • Fleas are extremely rare as fossils; their small size and specialized habitat makes them highly unlikely candidates for fossilization. Two species have been found in amber from the Baltic region (late Eocene-Oligocene); living members of the family of fleas to which these fossils belong (Hystrichopsyllidae) are mostly parasitic on insectivores (moles and shrews). HYMENOPTERA • Hymenoptera include bees, ants, and a large number of other insect taxa collectively referred to as wasps. The Hymenoptera include famous examples of social insects, such as honeybees and true ants; these insects have developed regimented social systems in which members are divided into worker, drone, and queen castes. Such social hymenoptera may live together in nests or hives of many thousands of individuals, all descended form a single queen. Not all hymenoptera are social, however; many live a solitary life, coming together only for a brief mating. MATODEA • Matodea is an order of insects that contains over 2,400 valid species and about 430 genera (Otte & Spearman 2012) in 15 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. • The English common name for any species in the order is "praying mantis" (Bullock 1812), because of the typical "prayer-like" attitude with folded forelimbs, although the eggcorn "preying mantis" is sometimes used in reference to their predatory habits PLECOPTERA • The Plecoptera are an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. Some 3,500 species are described worldwide,[1] with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica.[2] Stoneflies are believed to be one of the most primitive groups of Neoptera, with close relatives identified from the Carboniferous and Lower Permian geological periods, while true stoneflies are known from fossils only a bit younger. • Plecoptera are found in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, and the populations are quite distinct THE END