Apterygota

Apterygota
Temporal range: Devonian–Present [1]
"Petrobius maritimus" (Archaeognatha: Machilidae)
Petrobius maritimus (Archaeognatha: Machilidae)
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Apterygota
Brauer 1885[2]
Groups included
Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa

Pterygota

The name Apterygota is sometimes applied to a former subclass of small, agile insects, distinguished from other insects by their lack of wings in the present and in their evolutionary history; notable examples are the silverfish, the firebrat, and the jumping bristletails. Their first known occurrence in the fossil record is during the Devonian period, 417–354 million years ago. The group Apterygota is not a clade; it is paraphyletic, and not recognized in modern classification schemes. As defined, the group contains two separate clades of wingless insects: Archaeognatha comprises jumping bristletails, while Zygentoma comprises silverfish and firebrats. The Zygentoma are in the clade Dicondylia with winged insects, a clade that includes all other insects, while Archaeognatha is sister to this lineage.[4]

The nymphs (younger stages) go through little or even no metamorphosis, hence they resemble the adult specimens (ametabolism). Currently, no species are listed as being at conservation risk.

  1. ^ Hoell, H.V.; Doyen, J.T. & Purcell, A.H. (1998). Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-19-510033-4.
  2. ^ a b "Subclass Apterygota Brauer 1885 (insect)". Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  3. ^ WoRMS (2019). Apterygota. Accessed at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=151153 on 2019-01-22
  4. ^ A. Blanke, M. Koch, B. Wipfler, F. Wilde, B. Misof (2014) Head morphology of Tricholepidion gertschi indicates monophyletic Zygentoma. Frontiers in Zoology 11:16 doi:10.1186/1742-9994-11-16