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The following 29 insect orders are numbered in the order of evolutionary complexity with the oldest and most primitive groups listed first. They are also gathered together into a number of groups depending on their degree of relatedness.
Directions:
With your group, choose an insect order to research. Then design a presentation (multimedia and oral presentation with drawings, maps, models, and/or spreadsheets and charts) that includes the following information:
- Basic anatomy (show what distinguishes the selected order from the other orders)
- Life cycle
- Habitats (show the extremes)
- Global presence
- Adaptive and defensive structures and behaviors
- Where the insects exist in the food chain/web, and their role in the environment
- Pictures or drawings of examples from the selected order—most extreme, most common, most rare—you decide
- Local species of the insects in the selected order
- Harmful and beneficial species in the selected order
- Surprise us with something unique about the selected order!
| |
|
Taxonomic |
Common Name |
Species Worldwide |
|
The Apterygota (Wingless insects with no true metamorphosis at all) |
| Thysanura
| 3-Pronged Bristletails
| 55 |
| Diplura |
2-Pronged Bristletails |
600 |
| Protura |
Proturans |
10 |
| Collembola |
Springtails |
3,000 |
|
The Exopterygota (Hemimetabolous insects with incomplete metamorphosis) |
| Ephemeroptera |
Mayflies
| 2,000 |
| Odonata |
Dragons and Damsels |
5,000 |
| Plecoptera |
Stoneflies |
1,700 |
| Grylloblatodea |
Ice Bugs |
16 |
| Orthoptera |
Grasshoppers, Crickets |
20,000 |
| Phasmida |
Stick Insects |
3,000 |
| Dermaptera |
Earwigs |
1,200 |
| Embioptera |
Web Spinners |
300 |
| Dictyoptera |
Roaches and Mantids |
6,000 |
| Isoptera |
Termites |
1,900 |
| Zoraptera |
Angel Wings |
22 |
| Psocoptera |
Book and Bark Lice |
2,000 |
| Mallophaga |
Biting Lice |
2,800 |
| Siphunculata |
Sucking Lice |
300 |
| Hemiptera |
True Bugs, Aphids, Cicadas |
100,000 |
| Thysanoptera |
Thrips |
500 |
|
The Endopterygota (Holometabolous insects with complete metamorphosis) |
| Neuroptera |
Lacewings and so forth
| 4,700 |
| Mecoptera |
Scorpion Flies |
400 |
| Siphonaptera |
Fleas |
1,400 |
| Coleoptera |
Beetles, June Bugs |
370,000 |
| Strepsiptera |
Stylops |
370 |
| Diptera |
Deer Flies, House Flies, Horse Flies, Mosquitoes |
100,000 |
| Lepidoptera |
Butterflies and Moths |
150,000 |
| Trichoptera |
Caddisflies |
5,000 |
| Hymenoptera |
Ants, Bees, and Wasps |
120,000 + |
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