The order Poduromorpha is one of the three main groups of

springtail Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects (the other two are the Protura and Diplura). Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called En ...

s (Collembola), tiny hexapods related to

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 pairs ...

s. This group was formerly treated as a

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Poduroidea. They can be best distinguished from the other springtail groups by their body shape. The Symphypleona are very round animals, almost spherical and the abdominal segments are not visible. Both

Entomobryomorpha The Entomobryomorpha are one of the three main groups (order) of springtails (Collembola), tiny hexapods related to insects. This group was formerly treated as a superfamily, the Entomobryoidea. They can be best distinguished from the other ...

and Poduromorpha are long springtails with six visible abdominal segments. While Entomobryomorpha have the first thorax segment reduced, Poduromorpha retain all three. The Poduromorpha also tend to have short legs and a plump body, but more oval in shape than the Symphypleona. Their name means ‘foot tail formed’, deriving from their short, flat,

furcula The (Latin for "little fork") or wishbone is a forked bone found in most birds and some species of non-avian dinosaurs, and is formed by the fusion of the two pink clavicles. In birds, its primary function is in the strengthening of the Thorax, ...

Systematics

The Poduromorpha were, as Poduroidea, united with the

(then called Entomobryoidea) in a group called "Arthropleona", but this has more recently turned out to be

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

. Actually the Entomobryomorpha, the Poduromorpha, and the third springtail lineage – the Symphypleona – are equally distinct from each other. Their treatment at equal

taxonomic rank In biological classification, taxonomic rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in an ancestral or hereditary hierarchy. A common system consists of species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain. While ol ...

reflects this. Their rank has also varied a bit. When the springtails were still believed to be an order of insects, the "Arthropleona" and the Symphypleona were treated as

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

s.See references in Haaramo (2008).

List of families

Includes

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

families. Superfamily Neanuroidea * Family

Brachystomellidae Brachystomellidae is a family of springtails in the order Poduromorpha. There are about 9 genera in Brachystomellidae. Genera These nine genera belong to the family Brachystomellidae: * '' Bonetella'' Stach, 1949 * '' Brachygastrura'' Rapoport, ...

* Family

Neanuridae The family Neanuridae contains pudgy short-legged springtails of the order Poduromorpha. It was established by Carl Börner in 1901. Systematics There are six subfamilies currently recognized: * Caputanurininae * Frieseinae * Morulinina ...

* Family

Odontellidae Odontellidae is a family of springtails in the order Poduromorpha. There are about 9 genera and more than 50 described species in Odontellidae. Genera These nine genera belong to the family Odontellidae: * '' Austrodontella'' Ellis & Bellinger, ...

Superfamily Poduroidea * Family Poduridae Superfamily Hypogastruroidea * Family

Hypogastruridae Hypogastruridae is a family of springtails. Members of the family are common and widespread with a cosmopolitan distribution of about 660 species in about 40 genera. Selected genera These 43 genera belong to the family Hypogastruridae: * '' Ach ...

* Family Pachytullbergiidae * Family Paleotullbergiidae Superfamily Gulgastruroidea * Family Gulgastruridae Superfamily Onychiuroidea * Family

Onychiuridae Onychiuridae is a family of Collembola. This family has 600 species in 51 genera. List of genera According to ''Checklist of the Collembola of the World'': * Onychiurinae Lubbock, 1867 ** Cribrochiurini Weiner, 1996 *** '' Cribrochiurus'' Wei ...

* Family Tullbergiidae Superfamily Isotogastruroidea * Family

Isotogastruridae ''Isotogastrura'' is a genus of springtails in the family Isotogastruridae, the only genus of the family. There are at least 10 described species in ''Isotogastrura''. Species These species belong to the genus ''Isotogastrura'': * '' Isotogastr ...

Footnotes

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1935420 Arthropod orders