Classification Of Insects - Royal Entomological Society

Insecta

Apterygota

ApterygotaPrimitive wingless insects with incomplete metamorphosis.

Archaeognatha or Microcoryphia

Bristletails

Zygentoma

Silverfish and firebrats

Palaeoptera

PalaeopteraPrimitive winged insects, with their wings held upright or outstretched at rest and incomplete metamorphosis.

Ephemeroptera

Mayflies or upwing flies

Odonata

Dragonflies and damselflies

Polyneoptera

PolyneopteraWinged insects, with a broad, fan-like extension to their hind wings, and incomplete metamorphosis.

Orthoptera

Grasshoppers, crickets and bush-crickets

Phasmida

Stick-insects

Plecoptera

Stoneflies

Dermaptera

Earwigs

Dictyoptera

Cockroaches, termites and mantids

Embioptera

Webspinners

Grylloblattaria

Rock crawlers

Mantophasmatodea

Heelwalkers

Zoraptera

Zorapterans

Paraneoptera

ParaneopteraHigher insects, with mostly incomplete metamorphosis, where a nymph generally resembles the adult.

Hemiptera

True bugs

Phthiraptera

Sucking and biting lice

Psocoptera

Booklice and barklice

Thysanoptera

Thrips

Endopterygota

EndopterygotaHigher insects, with a clear metamorphosis from larva via a pupa to adult, also called Holometabola.

Coleoptera

Beetles

Diptera

True flies

Hymenoptera

Ants, bees, and wasps

Lepidoptera

Butterflies and moths

Mecoptera

Scorpion flies

Megaloptera

Alderflies

Neuroptera

Lacewings

Siphonaptera

Fleas

Raphidioptera

Snakeflies

Strepsiptera

Twisted wing flies

Trichoptera

Caddisflies or sedge flies