69 articles
Anisolabididae
Anisolabididae (Verhoeff, 1902; synonym Carcinophoridae) is a family of earwigs with 449 valid species in 34 genera; males have paired penises, and its phylogenetic placement within Dermaptera remains unresolved.
Antlion
Antlion (family Myrmeleontidae, larvae called doodlebugs in the US): neuropteran insects whose larvae trap ants in conical sand pits; about 2,000 species worldwide in dry sandy regions, 1–3 year larval stage, month-long pupation and adult life.
Archaeognatha
Archaeognatha, also called Microcoryphia or jumping bristletails, is the oldest extant order of wingless insects, with monocondylic mandibles, two families (Machilidae, Meinertellidae), around 500 to 600 species, and jumping locomotion.
Ascalaphidae
Ascalaphidae (owlflies) are dragonfly-like Neuroptera with clubbed antennae, about 430–450 described species in roughly 100 genera, predaceous larvae, UV vision, and a disputed classification relative to antlions (Myrmeleontidae).
Baetidae
Baetidae, the small minnow mayflies, is the most species-rich mayfly family: about 100 genera and 900 species worldwide except New Zealand and Antarctica, established by Leach in 1815, with larvae used in stream biomonitoring.
Body louse
Body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus), clothing-dwelling human ectoparasite and subspecies of the head-and-body louse; vectors epidemic typhus, trench fever, and relapsing fever; treated by hygiene and clean clothes.
Caddisfly
Caddisfly (Trichoptera): order of moth-like aquatic insects, about 15,000 species on all continents except Antarctica; larvae build silk cases and nets and serve as water-quality bioindicators.
Caeciliusidae
Caeciliusidae (lizard barklice) is a family of Psocodea bark lice in the infraorder Caeciliusetae, renamed from Caeciliidae to avoid homonymy with caecilian amphibians; about 570 species in 32 genera, leaf-inhabiting, with disputed monophyly.
Ceratophyllidae
Ceratophyllidae (bird and rodent fleas), family Dampf 1908 of order Siphonaptera; about 51 genera and 435 species, largest monophyletic flea family, global including Antarctica, with plague-vector Nosopsyllus fasciatus.
Chrysopidae
Chrysopidae, the green lacewings (also called stinkflies), is a family of Neuroptera with over 1,000 species whose predatory larvae control aphids, whiteflies, thrips, and mites; Chrysoperla carnea and C. rufilabris dominate commercial biocontrol.
Coniopterygidae
Coniopterygidae, the dustywings or dusty lacewings, is a family of minute predatory Neuroptera with waxy white coating and reduced wing venation; 571 species in 23 genera, sister to all other lacewings, oldest fossil late Jurassic Kazakhstan.
Crab louse
Crab louse (Pthirus pubis, pubic louse), a human ectoparasitic insect infesting coarse pubic and body hair, spread mainly by sexual contact, causing itching, treated with permethrin or pyrethrins.
Ctenophthalmidae
Ctenophthalmidae, a family of fleas (Siphonaptera) with nine subfamilies and roughly 664-744 species, mainly Holarctic rodent parasites; historically a paraphyletic catchall family whose status remains taxonomically controversial.
Dermaptera
Dermaptera is the insect order known as earwigs, cosmopolitan insects with forceps-like abdominal pincers, short leathery forewings, and unusual maternal care of eggs and nymphs.
Diapheromeridae
Diapheromeridae, a family of stick insects (Phasmida) established by Kirby in 1904 with type genus Diapheromera; about 446 valid species in 62 genera, two subfamilies, worldwide in tropical and warm temperate regions.
Dobsonfly
Dobsonfly, subfamily Corydalinae (Megaloptera: Corydalidae); eastern dobsonfly Corydalus cornutus. Large weak-flying insects; males have 40 mm sickle mandibles, aquatic hellgrammite larvae live 1-3 years in streams.
Earwig
Earwig, order Dermaptera (skin wings): about 2,000 nocturnal insect species with forcep-like abdominal cerci and compactly folding hind wings; omnivores that are orchard predators or pests, harmless to humans despite the ear myth.
Embioptera
Embioptera (webspinners, Embiidina, Embiodea) is an order of gregarious tropical insects that spin silk from foreleg tarsal glands to build galleries; about 450 species, sister to Zoraptera within Polyneoptera.
Ephemeridae
Ephemeridae, the burrowing mayflies, is a family of Ephemeroptera in the superfamily Ephemeroidea, with about 96 species in 7 genera including Ephemera and Hexagenia; tusked nymphs burrow in sediments and serve as water-quality bioindicators.
Ephemeroptera
Ephemeroptera, the mayflies, an order of Palaeoptera insects with about 3,281 described species; aquatic nymphs with gills, a unique winged subimago stage, and adults living 1-2 days.
Flea
Flea (order Siphonaptera): small wingless blood-feeding insect parasite of mammals and birds. Over 2,500 species; four-stage lifecycle; vectors plague, murine typhus, and cat scratch disease.
Forficula auricularia
Forficula auricularia, the European earwig, is an omnivorous Dermaptera insect with pincer-like cerci, native to Europe and introduced worldwide, univoltine with maternal egg care, and both a minor crop pest and an aphid predator in orchards.
Forficulidae
Forficulidae, the common earwig family of order Dermaptera, holds about 500 species in 67 genera including Forficula auricularia; males have a single penis, and molecular work reveals cryptic species.
Frankliniella occidentalis
Frankliniella occidentalis, western flower thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), a polyphagous greenhouse and field pest native to western North America that vectors tomato spotted wilt virus and is an EPPO A2 quarantine pest.
Glossosomatidae
Glossosomatidae, the saddle-case maker caddisflies (Trichoptera, superfamily Glossosomatoidea), is a family established by Wallengren in 1891 with type genus Glossosoma; larvae build tortoise-shell stone cases and graze periphyton in streams.
Head louse
Head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis), a bloodsucking insect parasite of the human scalp, spread by head-to-head contact, causing pediculosis capitis; harmless disease-wise, treated with pediculicides such as permethrin or occlusive agents.
Hemerobiidae
Hemerobiidae, brown lacewings (Latreille, 1802), a Neuroptera family of small predatory insects; about 560-591 species, forewings 4-12 mm, multiple radial veins from R1, all continents except Antarctica.
Heptageniidae
Heptageniidae (flatheaded mayflies) is a mayfly family in Ephemeroptera with three subfamilies, 37 genera, and over 606 species, mainly Holarctic and Oriental, with flattened stream-dwelling larvae used as clean-water bioindicators.
Hydropsychidae
Hydropsychidae, the net-spinning caddisflies (Curtis, 1835), a Trichoptera family of about 1,500-1,982 species whose larvae spin silk filter nets in fixed stream retreats, serve as water-quality bioindicators and streambed ecosystem engineers.
Hydroptilidae
Hydroptilidae, the micro-caddisflies (family, Trichoptera), largest caddisfly family with over 2,600 species in six subfamilies and 76 genera; tiny adults (forewing 2–5 mm) whose larvae build purse cases only in the final instar.