-
Animals +
-
Arthropods +
-
Insects -
- Alderflies +
- Bees, ants and wasps +
- Beetles +
- Biting lice +
- Butterflies and moths +
- Caddisflies +
- Dragonflies +
- Earwigs +
- Fleas +
- Gladiators +
- Grasshoppers, locusts and crickets +
- Jumping bristletails +
- Mantids +
- Mayflies +
- Phasmids +
- Psocids +
- Rock crawlers +
- Scorpion flies +
- Silverfish +
- Snakeflies +
- Spongillaflies +
- Stoneflies +
- Termites +
- Thrips +
- True bugs +
- True flies +
- Twisted-winged parasites +
- Webspinners +
- Zorapterans +
-
Insects -
-
Arthropods +
- Archaea +
- Bacteria +
- Chromista +
- Fungi +
- Plants +
- Protozoa +
- Viruses +
Table Of Contents
- Overview
- Introduction
- Description
- Characteristics
- Biodiversity Heritage Library
- References and More Information
- Specialist Projects
- Common Names
- Additional Resources
- Literature References
Introduction
While crustaceans are the dominant group of arthropods in marine environments, hexapods, including insects, rule the land. Their dominance among animals is evident in their numbers of species, with over 750,000 described (Wilson, 1988), as well as biomass (e.g. Fittkau and Klinge, 1973).
Hexapods include three orders of wingless arthropods (Collembola, Protura, Diplura), as well as the insects. The former orders are soil or litter dwellers. Collembola (springtails) are perhaps the most abundant arthropods on earth. Proturans are very small, pale arthropods that are rarely encountered. Diplurans include a few families of larger, pale arthropods that are frequently found in moist soils. The majority of hexapod species are insects, many of which are winged as adults.
Explore
|
|
Serranochromis janus Trewavas, 1964 |
|
|
Taenioides gracilis (Valenciennes, 1837)
Slender eel goby |
|
|
Leiognathus brevirostris (Valenciennes, 1835)
Shortnose ponyfish |
|
|
Bagrus orientalis Boulenger, 1902 |
|
|
Chaetodon reticulatus Cuvier, 1831
Mailed butterflyfish |