Insects & other Arthropods David A Kendall   BSc PhD
E-Mail: kendalluk@aol.com
INSECT FILES
Site Guide
Site Search
Home
Career
Insect Files

Shortcut to the main groups of insects and other arthropods...

Bug Rhymes & Poems
Links
Shop
Payments (credit/debit card)

Order Protura

(Prot-ura, from Greek protos = first, oura = tail)		 Class: Insecta
Order: Protura
Examples:

Minute wingless insects, without eyes or antennae. Mouthparts for piercing and sucking. Front legs held forward in the manner of antennae. Tarsi 1-segmented. Cerci absent. Metamorphosis slightor wanting. About 70 species are presently recognised, of which 17 occur in the British Isles.

Acerentomon sp.

Description. Minute, whitish insect, less than 2 mm long.

Biology. Found in leaf litter and in moist soil with plenty of organic matter. The piercing mouthparts are used for sucking juices from fungal hyphae and decaying vegetable matter.

Distribution. Britain and northern Europe (probably other temperate regions).

Illustration: adapted from Sylvestri 1907 (Boll. Lab. Zool. Portici 1, 296-311)

ADULT

insect classification
(classification of insects)		 KEY
(identification key to insect orders)
<<< TOP (use the back button on your web browser to return to the previous page) TOP >>>
Copyright © 2010 David Kendall Last revised May 2010