Nicoletiidae is a family of primitive
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s belonging to the order
Zygentoma
Zygentoma are an order in the class Insecta, and consist of about 550 known species. The Zygentoma include the so-called silverfish or fishmoths, and the firebrats. A conspicuous feature of the order are the three long caudal filaments. The t ...
. These insects live primarily underground, under detritus, or in caves. A few species are recorded as
commensals inside nests of
social insects
Eusociality (from Greek εὖ ''eu'' "good" and social), the highest level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping genera ...
, such as the species ''Allotrichotriura saevissima'' which lives inside
fire ant
Fire ants are several species of ants in the genus ''Solenopsis'', which includes over 200 species. ''Solenopsis'' are stinging ants, and most of their common names reflect this, for example, ginger ants and tropical fire ants. Many of the nam ...
nests.
[
]
Selected genera
* '' Allotrichotriura''
* ''Anelpistina
''Nicoletia'' is a genus of silverfish in the family Nicoletiidae
Nicoletiidae is a family of primitive insects belonging to the order Zygentoma. These insects live primarily underground, under detritus, or in caves. A few species are recorded ...
''
* '' Atelura''
* ''Battigrassiella
''Battigrassiella'' is a genus of nicoletiids in the family Nicoletiidae
Nicoletiidae is a family of primitive insects belonging to the order Zygentoma. These insects live primarily underground, under detritus, or in caves. A few species are r ...
''
* '' Coletinia''
* '' Hemitrinemura'' Oceania, fossils known from Dominican amber
Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree '' Hymenaea protera''.
Dominican amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has a higher number of fossil inc ...
(Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
)
* ''Lepidospora
''Lepidospora'' is a genus of silverfish in the family Nicoletiidae
Nicoletiidae is a family of primitive insects belonging to the order Zygentoma. These insects live primarily underground, under detritus, or in caves. A few species are record ...
''
* ''Nicoletia
''Nicoletia'' is a genus of silverfish in the family Nicoletiidae. Most of the ~30 species originally placed in this genus have subsequently been moved into other genera, primarily '' Coletinia'' and ''Anelpistina
''Nicoletia'' is a genus of si ...
''
* ''Prosthecina
''Prosthecina'' is a genus of nicoletiids in the family Nicoletiidae
Nicoletiidae is a family of primitive insects belonging to the order Zygentoma. These insects live primarily underground, under detritus, or in caves. A few species are recor ...
''
* '' Squamatinia''
* ''Squamigera
''Squamigera'' is a genus of nicoletiids in the family Nicoletiidae
Nicoletiidae is a family of primitive insects belonging to the order Zygentoma. These insects live primarily underground, under detritus, or in caves. A few species are recor ...
''
* ''Texoreddellia
''Texoreddellia'' is a genus of nicoletiids in the family Nicoletiidae
Nicoletiidae is a family of primitive insects belonging to the order Zygentoma. These insects live primarily underground, under detritus, or in caves. A few species are rec ...
''
* '' Trinemurodes'' fossils known from Dominican amber (Miocene)
Extinct genera
*†'' Archeatelura'' Mendes 1997 Dominican amber, Miocene
*†'' Paleograssiella'' Mendes and Poinar 2013 Mexican amber
Mexican amber, also known as Chiapas Amber is amber found in Mexico, created during the Early Miocene and middle Miocene epochs of the Cenozoic Era in southwestern North America. As with other ambers, a wide variety of taxa have been found as inc ...
, Miocene
References
Fauna Europaea
Zygentoma
Insect families
Extant Miocene first appearances
{{Thysanura-stub