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Reasons for the dominance of insects over other animals
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BENEFICIAL AND HARMFUL EFFECTS OF INSECTS
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Learn Introductory Entomology with Rahul
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Classification of insects

  • The seven most commonly used categories are:

 

Kingdom- Animal

Phylum – Arthropoda

Class – Insecta

Order – Lepidoptera (Butterflies and moths)

Family – Noctuidae

Genus – Helicoverpa

Species – armigera

 

 

  • Generally insects can be classified in two categories viz. Apterygota and Pterygota.
  • There are four orders in Apterygota, viz:

 

Insect Order

Examples

Number of Species

Characteristics

Diplura

Japygids

600

Minute insects that are mainly active at night. Found worldwide, usually in soil, they typically have whitebodies, long antennae, and no eyes or wings.

Protura

Telson tails

200

Tiny, flightless insects that feed on decayed organic matter. They have cone-shaped heads that lack antennae.

Collembola

Snow-fleas

2000

Oldest known group of insects. They have drab colors, are able to leap, and usually live in soil, where they feed on decomposing plant matter.

Thysanura

Silverfish

550

Characterized by long antennae and tapering bodies covered in tiny scales.

 

The subclass PTERYGOTA is further divided into two groups as:

a) EXOPTERYGOTA

b) ENDOPTERYGOTA