Poduromorpha

Poduromorpha
Podura aquatica (Poduridae)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Entognatha (disputed)
Subclass: Collembola
Order: Poduromorpha
Superfamilies

The order Poduromorpha is one of the three main groups of springtails (Collembola), tiny hexapods related to insects. This group was formerly treated as a superfamily Poduroidea.

They can be best distinguished from the other springtail groups by their body shape. The Symphypleona are very round animals, almost spherical. The Entomobryomorpha contain the slimmest springtails, some with long and some with short legs and antennae, but always with a very slender body. The Poduromorpha, by contrast, always have short legs and a plump body, but more oval in shape than the Symphypleona.

Systematics

The Poduromorpha were, as Poduroidea, united with the Entomobryomorpha (then called Entomobryoidea) in a group called "Arthropleona", but this has more recently turned out to be paraphyletic. Actually the Entomobryomorpha, the Poduromorpha, and the third springtail lineage – the Symphypleona – are equally distinct from each other. Their treatment at equal taxonomic rank reflects this. Their rank has also varied a bit. When the springtails were still believed to be an order of insects, the "Arthropleona" and the Symphypleona were treated as suborders.[1]

List of families

Includes fossil families.

Superfamily Neanuroidea

Red Poduromorph Springtails (family Neanuridae) crawling on damp garden soil.

Superfamily Poduroidea

Superfamily Hypogastruroidea

Superfamily Gulgastruroidea

Superfamily Onychiuroidea

Superfamily Isotogastruroidea

Footnotes

  1. ↑ See references in Haaramo (2008).

References

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