Species in the nine families of this small (~600 species) order of insects are parasites in other insects; their hosts include bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches. Classes & Orders Subclass: Apterygota Orders Archaeognatha (Bristletails) Thysanura (Silverfish) Monura - extinct Subclass: Pterygota Infraclass: Paleoptera (paraphyletic) Orders Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Protodonata - extinct Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Diaphanopteroidea - extinct Palaeodictyoptera - extinct Megasecoptera - extinct Archodonata - extinct Infraclass: Neoptera Orders Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Dermaptera (earwigs) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Protorthoptera - extinct Orthoptera (grasshoppers... A parasite is an organism that lives in or on the living tissue of a host organism at the expense of that host. ... Families Andrenidae Apidae Colletidae Halictidae Heterogynaidae Megachilidae Melittidae Oxaeidae Sphecidae Stenotritidae Bees (Apoidea superfamily) are flying insects, closely related to wasps and ants. ... WASP (an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) is a term that denotes the culture, customs, and heritage of the American élite Establishment. ... Families Lepidotrichidae Nicoletiidae Lepismatidae This page is about the Silverfish insect. ... Families Blaberidae Blattellidae Blattidae Cryptocercidae Polyphagidae Nocticolidae Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattodea (the name Blattaria is also seen). ...

Male Strepsiptera have wings, legs, eyes, and antennae, and look like flies, though they generally have no useful mouthparts. Females, in all families except the Mengenillidae, never leave their host and are neotenic in form, lacking wings and legs. Males have a very short adult lifetime (usually less than five hours) and do not feed as adults. They search for and mate with a female (whose anterior region extrudes through the host's body). Sperm passes through an opening in the head of the female and from there directly into the body cavity (Haemocoel). Neoteny is a term in developmental biology that describes the retention of juvenile characteristics in the adults of a species and is similar to but not the same as progenesis, which is the attainment of sexual maturity by an organism still in its larval stage, as is found among certain...

Male Strepsipteran eyes are unlike those of any other insect, resembling the schizochroal eyes found in the trilobite group known as Phacopida. Instead of compound eyes consisting of hundreds of ommatidia, each of which sees one pixel, the strepsipteran eyes consist of a few dozen lenses, each with its own individual retina. Classes & Orders Subclass: Apterygota Orders Archaeognatha (Bristletails) Thysanura (Silverfish) Monura - extinct Subclass: Pterygota Infraclass: Paleoptera (paraphyletic) Orders Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Protodonata - extinct Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Diaphanopteroidea - extinct Palaeodictyoptera - extinct Megasecoptera - extinct Archodonata - extinct Infraclass: Neoptera Orders Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Dermaptera (earwigs) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Protorthoptera - extinct Orthoptera (grasshoppers... Orders Agnostida Redlichiida Corynexochida Lichida Phacopida Proetida Asaphida Harpetida Ptychopariida doubtful order Nektaspida Trilobites are extinct arthropods in the class Trilobita. ... Phacopida is an order of trilobite. ... Compound eye of a dragonfly Compound eye of Antarctic krill as imaged by an electron microscope A compound eye is a visual organ found in certain arthropods such as some insects and crustaceans. ... Drosophila melanogaster ommatidium The compound eye of insects is composed of hundreds of unit eyes called ommatidia. ... Human eye cross-sectional view. ...

The order, named by Kirby in 1813, is named for the hind wings (twisted wing), which are held at a twisted angle when at rest. The forewings are reduced to halteres. Halteres, (singular halter or haltere) from the Greek word for dumbbells, are small knobbed structures homologous to wings and flapped to maintain stability when flying. ...

Strepsiptera present an enigma to taxonomists. Some believe they are the sister group to the beetle families Meloidae and Rhipiphoridae, which have similar parasitic development and forewing reduction; some say they are the sister group to the beetles; some say they are the sister group to the flies, which have hindwing halteres. Genera See text. ... Suborders Adephaga Archostemata Myxophaga Polyphaga See subgroups of the order Coleoptera Beetles are one of the main groups of insects. ... Fly can refer to any of the following things: A fly (plural flies) is any species of insect of the order Diptera. ...

See also

Fly's eye lens

External links

• http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Strepsiptera
• http://www.strepsiptera.uni-rostock.de/
• Survey of Modern Counterparts of Schizochroal Trilobite Eyes: Structural and Functional Similarities and Differences