Insect Taxonomic DiversityBY: MARCUS MORALES

Insect Orders

Table 11. Ephemeroptera2. Odonata3. Blattaria4. Isopteria5. Dermatptera

Table 21. Orthoptera2. Phasmida3. Hemiptera4. Coleoptera5. Lepidoptera

Table 31. Diptera2. Siphonoptera3. Hymenoptera4. Mantodea5. Plecoptera

Ephemeroptera

The name Ephemeroptera is derived from the Greek "ephemera" meaning short-lived, and "ptera" meaning wings.  This is a reference to the short lifespan of most adult mayflies.

The immature stages of mayflies are aquatic. They generally live in unpolluted habitats with fresh, flowing water.  Some species are active swimmers, others are flattened and cling to the underside of stones, a few are burrowers who dig U-shaped tunnels in the sand or mud.  Most species are herbivorous.  Their diet consists primarily of algae and other aquatic plant life scavenged from surrounding habitat.  Some species mature quickly, in as little as four weeks, while others develop more slowly (one to four years per generation).

OdonataThe name Odonata, derived from the Greek "odonto-", meaning tooth, refers to the strong teeth found on the mandibles of most adults. Dragonflies and damselflies are predaceous both as immatures and adults.  The adults are quick, agile fliers that are generally considered beneficial because they feed on large numbers of small, flying insects like gnats and mosquitos.  Legs are used either as a basket for catching prey or as grapples for clinging to emergent vegetation.  Eggs are laid singly in fresh water; females often hover over open water and dip their abdomen as they oviposit.

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. Compare the photograph of the living cockroach at the top of the page with this picture, depicting the 260 million-year-old, three-inch fossil roach Mylacris, and you'll see that roaches have not undergone any sweeping changes in their form in all that time, a phenomenon known to evolutionary biologists as stasis.

Isoptera

The name Isoptera, derived from the Greek "iso" meaning equal and "ptera" meaning wings, refers to the similar size, shape, and venation of the four wings.

The termites are another group of insects that appear to be closely related to cockroaches.  This conclusion is based on behavioral and ecological similarities between termites and wood roaches (members of the family Cryptocercidae).

Dermaptera

Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera and are found throughout the Americas, Africa, Eurasia, Australia and New Zealand. With about 2,000 species[1] in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cerci, a pair of forceps pincers on their abdomen, and membranous wings folded underneath short forewings, hence the scientific order name, "skin wings." Some groups are tiny parasites on mammals and lack the typical pincers. Earwigs rarely use their flying ability.

Orthoptera Orthoptera is an order of insects with paurometabolous or

incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, crickets, cave crickets, Jerusalem crickets, katydids, weta, lubber, Acrida, and locusts. Many insects in this order produce sound (known as a "stridulation") by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps. The tympanum or ear is located in the front tibia in crickets, mole crickets, and katydids, and on the first abdominal segment in the grasshoppers and locusts.[1] These organisms use vibrations to locate other individuals.

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). The ordinal name is derived from the Ancient Greek φάσμα phasma, meaning an apparition or phantom, and refers to the resemblance of many species to sticks or leaves. 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. The greatest diversity is found in Southeast Asia and South America, followed by Australia. Phasmids also have a considerable presence in the continental United States, mainly in the Southeast.

Hemiptera

Most people tend to call anything with lots of legs a "bug." However, to an entomologist, a "bug" is one of the 35,000 or so species of the order Hemiptera. Hemiptera means "half wing" and refers to the fact that part of the first pair of wings is toughened and hard, while the rest of the first pair and the second pair are membranous. Hemipterans also have modified piercing and sucking mouthparts; some suck plant juices and are plant pests, while others can bite painfully.

A possibly paraphyletic group of insects known as the Homoptera is sometimes included within the Hemiptera, even though they lack the toughened areas on the first pair of wings. Some entomologists group both Hemiptera and Homoptera within the group Heteroptera; others use the name Heteroptera for what we have called the Hemiptera and use Hemiptera for the Heteroptera. Confused? So are we. Anyway, the Homoptera have the dubious distinction of being probably the most destructive insects of all. They include aphids, leafhoppers, cicadas, and scale insects: 45,000 species in all.

Coleoptera

The Coleoptera /koʊliːˈɒptərə/ order of insects is commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek κολεός, koleos, meaning "sheath"; and πτερόν, pteron, meaning "wing", thus "sheathed wing", because most beetles have two pairs of wings, the front pair, the "elytra", being hardened and thickened into a shell-like protection for the rear pair and the beetle's abdomen. The superficial consistency of most beetles' morphology, in particular their possession of elytra, has long suggested that the Coleoptera are monophyletic, but growing evidence indicates this is unjustified, there being arguments for example, in favor of allocating the current suborder Adephaga their own order, or very likely even more than one.[

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera (/ˌlɛpɨˈdɒptərə/ lep-i-DOP-tər-ə) is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies (both called lepidopterans). It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world,[1] encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies. The term was coined by Linnaeus in 1735 and is derived from Ancient Greek λεπίδος (scale) and πτερόν (wing).[2] Comprising an estimated 174,250 species,[3] in 126 families[4] and 46 superfamilies,[3] the Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest that the order may have more species than earlier thought,[5] and is among the four most speciose orders, along with the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and the Coleoptera.[

Diptera

True flies are insects of the order Diptera (from the Greek di = two, and ptera = wings). Their most obvious distinction from other orders of insects is that a typical fly possesses a pair of flight wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax. (Some species of flies are exceptional in that they are secondarily flightless). The only other order of insects bearing two true, functional wings plus any form of halteres are the Strepsiptera, and in contrast to the flies, the Strepsiptera bear their halteres on the mesothorax and their flight wings on the metathorax.

Siphonoptera

Fleas are the insects forming the order Siphonaptera. They are wingless, with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Fleas are external parasites, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals and birds.

Fleas are wingless insects (1/16 to 1/8-inch (1.5 to 3.3 mm) long) that are agile, usually dark colored (for example, the reddish-brown of the cat flea), with tube-like mouth-parts adapted to feeding on the blood of their hosts. Their legs are long, the hind pair well adapted for jumping: a flea can jump vertically up to 7 inches (18 cm) and horizontally up to 13 inches (33 cm),[3] making the flea one of the best jumpers of all known animals (relative to body size), second only to the froghopper.

Hymenoptera

The Hymenoptera are one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. Over 150,000 species are recognized, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν (hymen): membrane and πτερόν (pteron): wing. The hind wings are connected to the fore wings by a series of hooks called hamuli.

Females typically have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into hosts or otherwise inaccessible places. The ovipositor is often modified into a stinger. The young develop through holometabolism, (complete metamorphosis) — that is, they have a worm-like larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they mature.

Mantodea

Mantodea (or mantises, mantes) is an order of insects that contains over 2,400 species and about 430 genera[1] in 15 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae.

The English common name for the order is the mantises, or rarely (using a Latinized plural of Greek mantis), the mantes. The name mantid refers only to members of the family Mantidae, which was, historically, the only family in the Order, but with 14 additional families recognized in recent decades, this term can be confusing. The other common name, often applied to any species in the order, is "praying mantis",[2] because of the typical "prayer-like" posture with folded fore-limbs, although the eggcorn "preying mantis" is sometimes used in reference to their predatory habits.[3][4] In Europe and other regions, however, the name "praying mantis" refers to only a single species, Mantis religiosa. The closest relatives of mantises are the termites and cockroaches (order Blattodea). They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such as grasshoppers and crickets, or other insects with raptorial forelegs such as mantisflies.

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. The modern diversity, however, apparently is of Mesozoic origin.[3]

Plecoptera are found in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, and the populations are quite distinct, although the evolutionary evidence suggests species may have crossed the equator on a number of occasions before once again becoming geographically isolated.[4][3]

All species of Plecoptera are intolerant of water pollution, and their presence in a stream or still water is usually an indicator of good or excellent water quality.[

The End