Exopterygota

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Exopterygota
Formosan subterranean termites
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Subclass: Pterygota Infraclass: Neoptera Superorder: Exopterygota
Orders
Grylloblattodea Plecoptera (stoneflies) Zoraptera Isoptera (termites) Dermaptera (earwigs) Embioptera Blattodea (cockroaches) Mantodea (mantids) Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, locusts, and katydids) Phasmatodea (stick insects) Psocoptera (booklice) Mallophaga (Chewing lice) Anoplura (Sucking lice) Hemiptera (true bugs, cicadas, hoppers, aphids, scale insects) Thysanoptera (Thrips, Thunderflies or Thunder bugs)

The Exopterygota, also known as Hemipterodea, are a superorder of insects of the subclass Pterygota in the infraclass Neoptera, in which the young resemble adults but have externally-developing wings. They undergo a modest change between larva and adult, without going through a pupal stage. The larvae develop gradually into adults through a process of moulting.

The Exopterygota are a highly diverse insect superorder, with at least 130,000 known species divided between sixteen orders. They include termites, locusts, thrips, lice and stick insects, among many other types of insect. Also Ephemeroptera (mayflies) and Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) have gradual wing development, but these two orders belongs to the paraphyletic infraclass Paleoptera, which is not included in Neoptera.

They are distinguished from the Endopterygota (or Holometabola) 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 without going through a true pupal stage, though a few have something resembling a pupa (e.g., Aleyrodidae).

ITIS treats Exopterygota as an Infraclass with a single Superorder - Endopterygota.