Zoraptera

Zoraptera
Temporal range: Albian–Present
Zorotypus from Los Bancos, Pichincha, Ecuador
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Infraclass: Neoptera
Cohort: Polyneoptera
Order: Zoraptera
Silvestri, 1913
Families
Diversity
51 species

The insect order Zoraptera, commonly known as angel insects, contains small and soft bodied insects with two forms: winged with wings sheddable as in termites, dark and with eyes (compound) and ocelli (simple); or wingless, pale and without eyes or ocelli. They have a characteristic nine-segmented beaded (moniliform) antenna. They have mouthparts adapted for chewing and are mostly found under bark, in dry wood or in leaf litter.[1]

Winged fossil of Zorotypus hirsutus from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) aged Burmese amber, around 99 million years old
  1. ^ Rafael, JA; Godoi, FDP; Engel, MS (2008). "A new species of Zorotypus from eastern Amazonia, Brazil (Zoraptera: Zorotypidae)". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 111 (3 & 4): 193–202. doi:10.1660/0022-8443-111.3.193. S2CID 85821812.