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Endopterygota
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Lytta magister, a Blister Beetle
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Coleoptera (beetles) |
The Endopterygota, also known as Holometabola, are insects of the subclass Pterygota which go through distinctive larval, pupal, and adult stages. They undergo a radical metamorphosis, with the larval and adult stages differing considerably in their structure and behaviour. This is called holometabolism, or complete metamorphism. The Endopterygota are among the most diverse insect superorders, with at least 680,000 known species divided between eleven orders. They are by some divided into three assemblages; Neuropteroida (Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Raphidioptera and Coleoptera), Hymenopteroida (Hymenoptera), and Panorpoida (Siphonaptera, Diptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Strepsiptera and Mecoptera). Or to use more familiar names; insects such as butterflies, fleas, bees, ants and beetles.
They are distinguished from the Exopterygota (or Hemipterodea) by the way in which their wings develop. Endopterygota (meaning literally "internal winged forms") develop wings inside the body and undergo an elaborate metamorphosis involving a pupal stage. Exopterygota ("external winged forms") develop wings on the outside of their bodies and do not go through a pupal stage.
