Hemiptera
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 Two-lined spittlebug
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Archaeorrhyncha |
Hemiptera is a large, cosmopolitan order of insects, comprising some 67,500 known species, in three (or four) suborders (recent classifications use four). Traditionally these taxa were treated as two separate orders, Homoptera (= Auchenorrhyncha and Sternorrhyncha) and Heteroptera (which was often inappropriately treated as synonymous with "Hemiptera"); the name "Homoptera" is now obsolete (the group was paraphyletic), and "Heteroptera" is falling into disuse by taxonomists, often replaced by Prosorrhyncha. In the latest classifications the suborder Auchenorrhyncha is divided into two suborders, Archaeorrhyncha and Clypeorrhyncha.
Members of the "Heteroptera" are typically called true bugs, though this common name is also sometimes used (due to its historical associations) for members of "Hemiptera" as a whole, though this is not appropriate. The name heteroptera comes from their forewings having both membranous and hard portions. It is also essentially this same feature which gives the order its name, hemiptera, coming from the Greek for half-wing. This group together with the family Peloridiidae (= "Coleorrhyncha") comprise the suborder Prosorrhyncha.
Members of the Hemiptera are distinguished from all other insects by both adults and nymphs having a proboscis that includes a salivary channel as well as a food channel. The proboscis is usually specialized to suck the juices from various parts of plants, including seeds, although some species are predatory (on arthropods and sometimes other small animals), and a few are adapted to suck blood from mammals.
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[edit] Suborder Prosorrhyncha
There are 25,000 known species in over 60 families.
[edit] Suborder Archaeorrhyncha
Some authors prefer this name to refer to the Fulgoromorpha, or Planthoppers.
[edit] Suborder Clypeorrhyncha
This name is sometimes used to refer to the Cicadomorpha.
[edit] Suborder Sternorrhyncha
There are 12,500 species.
[edit] External links
