Insects are the most diverse organisms on Earth with a long evolutionary history and are one of the most successful groups of organisms to have existed.
Keywords: hexapods; insects; evolution; biology
Insecta (Insects)
EA Jarzembowski, Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery, Maidstone, UK
Published online: April 2001
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001608
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Figure 1. Giant ant Formicium showing insect body organization (after Jarzembowski). Wingspan 144 mm.
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Figure 2. Life cycles of hemimetabolous (left) and holometabolous (right) insects compared (nymph = larva, pupa = chrysalis). (Adapted from Chinery, 1993.)
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Figure 3. Provisional relationships among the major hexapod groups (after Jarzembowski).
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Figure 4. Rhyniella praecursor reconstructed leaping (after Jarzembowski). Length 1.5 mm.
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| Further Reading | |
| book Carpenter FM (1992) "Superclass Hexapoda". Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part R, Arthropoda 4, 3 & 4. Lawrence: Kansas University Press. | |
| book Chinery M (1993) Insects of Britain and Northern Europe, 3rd edn. London: HarperCollins. | |
| standard Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (1991) The Insects of Australia,. 2nd edition vols 1 and 2 Carlton: Melbourne University Press. | |
| book Daly HV, Doyen JT and Purcell AH III (1998) Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | |
| book Jarzembowski EA and Ross AJ (1996) "Insect origination and extinction in the Phanerozoic". Biotic Recovery from Mass Extinction Events, Geological Society, Special Publication, no. 102, pp. 65–78. London. | |
| book Jolivet P (1998) Interrelationships Between Insects and Plants. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. | |
| book Parker SP (ed.) (1982) Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms, vol. 2. New York: McGraw-Hill. | |
| book Wilson EO (1971) The Insect Societies. Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press. | |
