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: *

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

, who offer a fully-resolved tree for that clade.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q23005 Insect taxonomy Extant Pennsylvanian first appearances