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Order Zoraptera - Zorapterans

Angel insects - Zorotypus hubbardi Zorotypus sp. - Zorotypus hubbardi Zorotypus - Zorotypus hubbardi Zoraptera - Zorotypus hubbardi Zoraptera - Zorotypus hubbardi Zoraptera - Zorotypus hubbardi Zorotypus - Zorotypus hubbardi Zorotypus - Zorotypus hubbardi
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Zoraptera (Zorapterans)
Other Common Names
Angel insects
Explanation of Names
Zoraptera Sylvestri 1913
'strictly wingless' (when the order was first described, only wingless forms were known(1))
Numbers
a single genus, with 2 spp. in our area(2) and ~40 total
Size
2-3 mm
Identification
Tiny, gregarious insects found in decaying wood.
Wingless and winged forms occur in both sexes. 4 membranous wings with much reduced venation. Antennae moniliform and 9-segmented. Wingless forms lack compound eyes and ocelli, but winged forms have both. Tarsi 2-segmented. Cerci are short and unsegmented. Abdomen, short, oval and 10-segmented.
Range
e US (PA-FL to IA-TX)(2), elsewhere primarily tropical, more diverse in the Neotropical & Oriental regions
Habitat
Under slabs of wood or piles of sawdust, under bark, in rotten logs
Food
Fungus spores; small dead arthropods
Remarks
closely related to earwigs(3)
Internet References
Tree of Life page (Engel 2005)
Works Cited
1.An Introduction to Entomology
John Henry Comstock. 1933. The Comstock publishing Co.
2.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.
3.Phylogenomics resolves the timing and pattern of insect evolution
Bernhard Misof et al. 2014. Science Vol. 346, 763.