Insect phylogeny

[Chris J. Durden]

Jim,
  The answer to your question would be a book that has not yet been
written. The study of fossil insects is notoriously difficult. I would
compare it to the study of the content of the crops of swifts that had been
flushed and were being retrieved from the bottom of the sawage ponds! Add
to that the loneliness of the specialists and the attendant rivalries,
politics and self aggrandizement that go along with this.
  One of the biggest problems in understanding insect origins has been the
concept of Uniramia. That is the evolution of insects from myriapods from
onychophorans independant of other arthropods, even though this would
require the evolution of striated muscle independently in two different
lineages of arthropods. Recent DNA comparisons have shown that insects are
more closely related to crustaceans than they are to millipedes. Thus
Snodgrass was on the right track and both Crustacea and Insecta belong to
Mandibulata at a sub-phylar level within Arthropoda.
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At 08:36  30/07/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Here's one for the systematics folks to chew on.
>
>What is the currently accepted version of the phylogeny of the insects and
>what is the evidence for it?  Has the fossil record been elucidated very
>much or is it all based on assuming that any insect with an aquatic larval
>form is more primitive than one with a terrestrial larval form?
---------------
  It can be concluded that some ancestral insect was aquatic, having
evolved an insect head from a crustacean ancestor, because different
lineages of terrestrial insects have evolved several different methods of
sperm transfer to the eggs or to the female, out of water. This suggests
independent evolution of several separate lineages of terrestrial insects.
  Within winged insects there may be two, perhaps three lineages that
independently evolved functional wings. The blattoid-orthopteroid orders
from a terrestrial ancestor; the nygmate orders from an aquatic ancestor.
Within the nygmate orders wings appear to have evolved in the aquatic
ancestor where they may have funtioned as gills, because dragonflies appear
to have gone terrestrial after the evolution of wings in their nygmate
ancestor.
  Many orders later evolved aquatic insects secondarily, so one cannot say
that an insect with an aquatic larva is more primitive than one with a
terrestrial larva.
-----------
>
>This may be too broad for the Leps list, so if someone can suggest an
>entomology forum for this posting, feel free.  I am interested to find out
>what has guided the determination that Scorpion Flies are "more advanced"
>than Beetles, why are Fleas considered to be at the top of the heap, etc.
>
>Jim Mason, Naturalist
>jmason at ink.org
>(316) 683-5499 x103
>Great Plains Nature Center
>6232 E. 29th St. N.
>Wichita, KS 67220-2200
>http://www.gpnc.org
>
>
-----------
  As for ranking of beetles - scorpionflies - fleas, I don't think we can
do this. The diagram of ordinal relationships as now known is more like a
bush than a tree!
------------
  I shall stick my neck out and give you a diagram:
 
Infraphylum Mandibulata (with Crustacea etc.)
 Superclass INSECTA
   Class SYMPHYLA (with order SCOLOPENDRELLIDA (symphylans))
   Class MYRIENTOMATA (with order PROTURA (telsontails))
   Class ENTOTROPHI (with order DIPLURA (campodeans etc.) +)
   Class HEXAPODA
    Subclass OLIGOENTOMATA (with order COLLEMBOLA (springtails))
    Subclass ARCHAEOGNATHA (with order MACHILIDA (bristletails) +)
    Subclass DICONDYLATA
     Infraclass APTERA (with order LEPISMIDA (silverfish) +)
     Infraclass ALATA
      Supraorder POLYNEOPTERA
       Superorder EMBIOIDEA
         Order ATOCIDA * (homoneurous protorthopterans)
         Order EMBIIDA (webspinner flies)
         Order ZORAPTERA (angel flies)
       Superorder HEMIPTEROIDEA
         Order PSOCIDA (barklice etc.)
         Order MALLOPHAGA (biting lice)
         Order HOMOPTERA (leafhoppers)
         Order HEMIPTERA (true bugs)
         Order ANOPLURA (sucking lice)
         Order THYSANOPTERA (thrips)
       Superorder PERLOIDEA
         Order PROTOPERLIDA* (heteroneurous protorthopterans)
         Order MIOMOPTERA*
         Order PROTELYTROPTERA* (false beetles)
         Order DERMAPTERA (earwigs etc.)
         Order PERLIDA (stoneflies)
       Superorder ORTHOPTEROIDEA
         Order HEMERISTIDA* (caloneurans)
         Order PHASMIDA (stick insecs etc.)
         Order TITANOPTERA* (giant leaf insects)
         Order ORTHOPTERA (grasshoppers)
       Superorder BLATTOPTEROIDEA
         Order GRYLLOPTERA (crickets)
         Order TERMITIDA (termites)
         Order MANTEIDA (praying mantis)
         Order BLATTOPTERA (roaches etc.)
       Superorder COLEOPTEROIDEA
         Order COLEOPTERA (beetles)
      Supraorder TELOMERIDA (flexwing nygmate insects)
       Superorder PROTOCICADOIDEA*
         Order CACURGIDA (nygmate homoneurous protorthoptera)
       Superorder PANORPOIDEA
         Order STREPSIPTEA (twistwing flies)
         Order RAPHIOPTERA (snowskips etc.)
         Order PANORPIDA (scorpionflies etc.)
         Order SIPHONAPTERA (fleas)
         Order TRICHOPTERA (caddis flies)
         Order LEPIDOPTERA (moths etc.)
         Order DIPTERA (two-wing flies)
       Superorder NEUROPTEROIDEA
         Order MEGALOPTERA (dobsonflies etc.)
         Order RAPHIDIIDA (snakeflies)
         Order NEUROPTERA (lacewing flies etc.)
         Order HYMENOPTERA (sawflies, wasps etc.)
      Supraorder PLAGIOPTERATA (stiff-winged nygmate insects)
       Superorder MEGASECOPTEROIDEA
         Order MEGASECOPTEIDA* (ripplewing flies)
         Order SYPHAROPTERIDA* (diaphanopters)
       Superorder EPHEMEROIDEA
         Order PALAEODICTYOPTERA* (netwing flies)
         Order ARCHODONATA* (permothemists)
         Order EPHEMERIDA (mayflies)
       Superorder LIBELLULOIDEA
         Order ODONATA (dragonflies)
-------------------
..........Chris Durden