Neoptera (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
''néos'' (“new”) + ''pterón'' (“wing”)) is a classification group that includes most orders of the winged
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pa ...
s, specifically those that can flex their wings over their
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the to ...
s. This is in contrast with the more
basal order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...
s of winged insects (the "
Palaeoptera" assemblage), which are unable to flex their wings in this way.
Classification
The taxon Neoptera was proposed by
А.М. Martynov in 1923 and 1924, in the following classification:
Pterygota
The Pterygota ( grc, πτερυγωτός, pterugōtós, winged) are a subclass of insects that includes the winged insects. It also includes insect orders that are secondarily wingless (that is, insect groups whose ancestors once had wings ...
*division
Palaeoptera
**order
Odonata
**order Agnatha (correct name:
Ephemeroptera)
**†order
Dictyoneuridea
The Palaeodictyopteroidea or Paleodictyopterida are an extinct superorder of Palaeozoic beaked insects, characterised by unique mouthparts consisting of 5 stylets. They represent the first important terrestrial herbivores, and the first major gr ...
**†order
Megasecoptera
**†order
Meganisoptera
Meganisoptera is an extinct order of very large to gigantic insects, informally called griffinflies. The order was formerly named Protodonata, the "proto-Odonata", for their similar appearance and supposed relation to modern Odonata (damselflies ...
**†order
Protephemeroidea
Neoptera ( Ancient Greek ''néos'' (“new”) + ''pterón'' (“wing”)) is a classification group that includes most orders of the winged insects, specifically those that can flex their wings over their abdomens. This is in contrast with the m ...
*division Neoptera
**superorder
Endopterygota
Endopterygota (from Ancient Greek ''endon'' 'inner' + ''pterón'' 'wing' + New Latin ''-ota'' 'having'), also known as Holometabola, is a superorder of insects within the infraclass Neoptera that go through distinctive larval, pupal, and a ...
**subdivision
Polyneoptera
***superorder Orthopteroidea (Anartioptera)
****order
Orthoptera
Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grassh ...
****order
Plecoptera
Plecoptera is an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. Some 3,500 species are described worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica. Stoneflies are believed to be one of the mos ...
****order
Dermaptera
Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cerci, a pair of forcep-like pincers on their abdomen, and membranous wings folded ...
****order
Embioptera
The order Embioptera, commonly known as webspinners or footspinners, are a small group of mostly tropical and subtropical insects, classified under the subclass Pterygota. The order has also been called Embiodea or Embiidina. More than 400 s ...
****order
Phasmatodea
The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida, Phasmatoptera or Spectra) are an order of insects whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick-bugs, walking sticks, stick animals, or bug sticks. They are also occasionally referred to as D ...
***superorder Blattopteroidea (senior name: Pan
dictyoptera
Dictyoptera (from Greek δίκτυον ''diktyon'' "net" and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing") is an insect superorder that includes two extant orders of polyneopterous insects: the order Blattodea (termites and cockroaches together) and the or ...
)
****order
Blattodea
Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence suggests they evolved from within the cockroach lineage, cladistically mak ...
****order
Mantodea
***subdivision
Paraneoptera
****order
Hemiptera
Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from to arou ...
*****suborder Phytophtires (correct name: Plantisuga)
*****suborder
Auchenorrhyncha
*****suborder
Heteroptera
The Heteroptera are a group of about 40,000 species of insects in the order Hemiptera. They are sometimes called "true bugs", though that name more commonly refers to the Hemiptera as a whole. "Typical bugs" might be used as a more unequivocal al ...
****subdivision Oligoneoptera
The order
Thysanoptera originally had uncertain systematic position, and later was attributed to Paraneoptera.
Other classifications were proposed, subordinating Neoptera either directly to Pterygota (as in Martynov's classification), or to Metapterygota:
*
Pterygota
The Pterygota ( grc, πτερυγωτός, pterugōtós, winged) are a subclass of insects that includes the winged insects. It also includes insect orders that are secondarily wingless (that is, insect groups whose ancestors once had wings ...
Gegenbaur 1878
**
Ephemeroptera Hyatt & Arms 1890
**
Metapterygota
Metapterygota is a clade of winged insects containing order Odonata and Infraclass Neoptera. They share morphological characteristics of a loss of caudal filiaments and a subimago stage. Genetically the clade is supported by similarities in the m ...
Börner 1909
***
Odonata Fabricius 1793
*** Neoptera Martynov 1923
Phylogeny
The phylogeny of Neoptera is shown in the
cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...
, not fully resolved, according to Kluge 2004, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2020 using morphological characteristics according to the principles of what he calls cladoendesis.
[ Further material from Kluge is available at]
Tegminoptera & Calyptroptera 2013Tetrastigmoptera 2019
This does not agree with the molecular phylogeny of e.g. Song et al 2016 for the
Polyneoptera, who include Zoraptera in that clade,
nor e.g. with Kjer et al 2016 for the
Endopterygota
Endopterygota (from Ancient Greek ''endon'' 'inner' + ''pterón'' 'wing' + New Latin ''-ota'' 'having'), also known as Holometabola, is a superorder of insects within the infraclass Neoptera that go through distinctive larval, pupal, and a ...
, who offer a fully-resolved tree for that clade.
References
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q23005
Insect taxonomy
Extant Pennsylvanian first appearances