Search results
Apterygota
- Apterygota are a subclass of small, agile insects, distinguished from other insects by their lack of wings in the present and in their evolutionary history. They include Thysanura (silverfish and firebrats). Some species lacking wings are members of insect orders that generally do have wings.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingless_insect
People also ask
What is a wingless insect?
Do wingless flies have wings?
What happens if an insect is wingless?
Why are wingless insects important?
Are Apterygota primitive wingless insects?
What are wingless flies and mosquitoes?
Wingless insect. There are various disparate groups of wingless insects. Apterygota are a subclass of small, agile insects, distinguished from other insects by their lack of wings in the present and in their evolutionary history. They include Thysanura (silverfish and firebrats).
Sep 26, 2023 · Wingless insects are those that have lost the ability to fly. This can happen for various reasons, such as living in an environment where flight is not necessary, or because it is more advantageous to use other adaptations instead of wings.
- Overview
- General features
- Life cycle
apterygote, broadly, any of the primitive wingless insects, distinct from the pterygotes, or winged insects. Used in this sense, the term apterygote commonly includes the primitive insects of the following groups: proturans, collembolans (springtails), diplurans, and species in the orders Zygentoma, Archaeognatha, and Monura (formerly the thysanurans).
The taxonomic status of the various groups that are considered apterygotes, however, remains unsettled. A typical apterygote, for example, is wingless and has six legs. The presence of six legs was once an important feature in the identification of true insects and enabled the identification of the apterygotes, including the proturans, collembolans, and diplurans and the now defunct Thysanura—the four groups that together made up the traditional subclass Apterygota (class Insecta). However, the proturans, collembolans, and diplurans are now considered by some entomologists to be offshoots from the main insectan stem of evolution and have been given independent taxonomic status as classes equivalent to the class Insecta. The term apterygote, therefore, is sometimes applied only to those groups thought to be ancestors of pterygotes—i.e., the silverfish, fishmoths, and firebrats (order Zygentoma) and the bristletails (order Archaeognatha), together with the extinct monurans (order Monura). For completeness of discussion, however, and because of the similarities of these primitive hexapods, the proturans, collembolans, and diplurans, as well as orders Zygentoma, Archaeognatha, and Monura, are included in this article.
Protura are minute (to 2 mm [0.08 inch] in length), elongated, and white and lack antennae. Distributed throughout the world in soil and leaf litter, they number about 800 species. Collembola are diverse in form, coloration, and habitat. Most species are less than 3 mm (0.1 inch) in length, but some range to 10 mm (0.4 inch). They have either elong...
The immature stages in all apterygotes are called nymphs. The young are similar to adults, changing little (slight metamorphosis) from molt to molt until sexual maturity is attained. In some groups, molting may continue throughout adult life. The greatest changes occur in the Protura, which is the only anamorphic hexapod group (i.e., an increase in number of body segments occurs at time of molting). The complete number of segments is present only after the third molt. There are at least six stages between molts (instars), and the last is the adult. Little is known about the postembryonic development of Diplura. Most species feed on both living and dead vegetable matter and fungi, although one group preys on other small invertebrates.
Britannica Quiz
Animal Factoids
The life cycles of the Collembola are diverse. Females may lay up to 800 eggs that hatch in 2 to 40 days. Three to 12 juvenile molts occur in intervals ranging from 11 days to a year, with up to 50 molts occurring in a lifetime, which can last from 4 to 18 months. Most Collembola feed on living or decaying plant material as well as on fungi, algae, and spores, while a few feed on carrion or are predatory.
In Zygentoma there may be more than 40 molts, although the adult stage is usually reached after about 12 molts. The silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) reaches sexual maturity in two or three years and molts multiple times in each subsequent year (sometimes molting more than two dozen times in a single year). They can live as long as seven years. In Archaeognatha there are six instars including adults. Both Zygentoma and Archaeognatha feed on decaying or dried vegetable material. Domestic silverfish eat plant and animal remains, paper, and artificial silk.
Special offer for students! Check out our special academic rate and excel this spring semester!
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Order Collembola. The order Collembola includes the springtails, primitive insects without wings. There are approximately 2,000 species of Collembola worldwide.
Hexapoda is then divided into two classes: the Entognatha includes primitively wingless hexapods such as springtails, while all the ‘true’ insects are subdivided into five major groups also know as superorders, the Apterygota, Palaeoptera, Polyneoptera, Paraneoptera and Endopterygota.
Mar 17, 2017 · The primitively wingless hexapods undergo little or no metamorphosis. Instead, the larval forms are smaller versions of their adult parents. Apterygotes molt throughout their lives, not just during the growth phase. Some apterygotes, like silverfish, may molt dozens of times and live several years.
The Apterygota, which formerly included the other primitively wingless insects currently placed in the class Entognatha, are now restricted to the two orders Archaeognatha and Zygentoma, which in turn were formerly united as the Thysanura.
