Metapterygota is a clade of winged insects containing order
Odonata
Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. Members of the group first appeared during the Triassic, though members of their total group, Odonatoptera, first appeared in Late Carboniferous.
The two comm ...
and Infraclass
Neoptera
Neoptera (Ancient Greek ''néos'' (“new”) + ''pterón'' (“wing”)) is a classification group that includes most orders of the winged insects, specifically those that can flex their wings over their abdomens. This is in contrast with the mo ...
. They share morphological characteristics of a loss of caudal filiaments and a
subimago
Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the order ...
stage. Genetically the clade is supported by similarities in the
mitochondrial genome
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
s.
Living Subgroups
*
Odonatoptera
The Odonatoptera are a superorder (sometimes treated as an order) of ancient winged insects, placed in the probably paraphyletic group Palaeoptera. The dragonflies and damselflies are the only living members of this group, which was far more div ...
**
Odonata
Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. Members of the group first appeared during the Triassic, though members of their total group, Odonatoptera, first appeared in Late Carboniferous.
The two comm ...
*
Neoptera
Neoptera (Ancient Greek ''néos'' (“new”) + ''pterón'' (“wing”)) is a classification group that includes most orders of the winged insects, specifically those that can flex their wings over their abdomens. This is in contrast with the mo ...
**
Exopterygota
The Exopterygota (Ancient Greek ''ἔξω'' (éxō, “outside”) + ''πτερόν'' (pterón, “wing”) + New Latin ''-ota'' (“having”)), also known as Hemipterodea, are a superorder of insects of the subclass Pterygota in the infracla ...
**
Endopterygota
Endopterygota (from Ancient Greek ''endon'' 'inner' + ''pterón'' 'wing' + New Latin ''-ota'' 'having'), also known as Holometabola, is a superorder of insects within the infraclass Neoptera that go through distinctive larval, pupal, and adult s ...
(=
Metabola or
Holometabola
Endopterygota (from Ancient Greek ''endon'' 'inner' + ''pterón'' 'wing' + New Latin ''-ota'' 'having'), also known as Holometabola, is a superorder of insects within the infraclass Neoptera that go through distinctive larval, pupal, and adult st ...
)
Phylogeny
References
Insect taxonomy
Pterygota
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