Archaeognatha

Sea bristletails Petrobius maritimus, photographed by Jymm.

Belongs within: Panhexapoda.
Contains: Meinertellidae.

The Archaeognatha, bristletails, are a group of wingless insects with an arched thorax modified for jumping.

Characters (from Ferguson 1990): Body form subcylindrical, thorax strongly arched; head hypognathous; eyes large, contiguous, with hundreds of ommatidia; vertex greatly reduced; frons large, with median ocellus; lateral ocelli large; mandibles primitive, consisting of a basal part with a single point of articulation to the cranium and a distal part with separate molar and incisor processes; palpus of maxillae with seven segments; labium with palpus of three unequal segments, the distal not greatly expanded apically; thoracic terga with very large paranotal lobes against sides; all leg segments essentially cylindrical; meso— and metathoracic coxae typically with styli (may be absent on mesothoracic coxa or both); femur and tibia large; tarsus with three tarsomeres; abdominal segments II—VII covered ventrally by three distinct sclerites; an anteromedial sternite and two lateral coxopodites; coxopodites of abdominal segments II—IX each with a posterolateral stylus; posterior edge of segments I—VII typically with one or two pairs of exsertile vesicles mesad of the styli.

<==Archaeognatha [Machilida, Machiloidea, Microcoryphia, Monocondylia]
    |  i. s.: Triassomachilis Sharov 1948 KS02 [Triassomachilidae GE05]
    |           `--T. uralensis Sharov 1948 K03
    |         Ditrigoniophthalmus oreophilus SBG11
    |--Dasyleptidae [Cercopodata, Monura] R02
    |    |--Leoidodasypus sharoui RJ93
    |    `--Dasyleptus Brongniart 1885 FT05
    |         |--D. brongniarti Sharov 1957 K-P83
    |         `--D. sharovi GE05
    `--+--Meinertellidae R02
       `--Machilidae R02
            |--Dilta littoralis GEW01, MG06
            |--Petridiobus arcticus F90
            |--Mesomachilis nearcticus F90
            |--Mixomachilis remingtoni F90
            |--Neomachilis halophilus F90
            |--Trigoniophthalmus Verhoeff 1910 F90
            |    `--T. alternatus (Silvestri 1904) F90
            |--Pedetontus Silvestri 1911 F90
            |    |--P. saltator Wygodzinsky & Schmidt 1980 F90
            |    `--P. unimaculatus R02
            |--Machilis Latreille 1802 L02
            |    |--*M. polypoda [=Lepisma polypoda] L02
            |    |--M. strenuva F90
            |    `--M. variabilis LNM91
            `--Petrobius Leach 1908 F90
                 |--P. brevistylis Carpenter 1913 [incl. P. canadensis Paclt 1969] F90
                 |--P. calcaratus Silvestri 1911 F90
                 |--P. californicus Silvestri 1911 F90
                 |--P. longicaudatus K-P83
                 |--P. maritimus Leach 1809 F90
                 |--P. persquamosus Silvestri 1911 F90
                 |--P. submutans Silvestri 1911 F90
                 `--P. superior Silvestri 1911 F90

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[FT05] Fayers, S. R., & N. H. Trewin. 2005. A hexapod from the Early Devonian Windyfield Chert, Rhynie, Scotland. Palaeontology 48 (5): 1117–1130.

[F90] Ferguson, L. M. 1990. Insecta: Microcoryphia and Thysanura. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 935-949. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[GEW01] Giribet, G., G. D. Edgecombe & W. C. Wheeler. 2001. Arthropod phylogeny based on eight molecular loci and morphology. Nature 413: 157-161.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[K03] Kluge, N. J. 2003. About evolution and homology of genital appendages of insects. Trudy Russkogo Entomologicheskogo Obshestva [Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society] 74: 3–16.

[KS02] Kluge, N. Yu., & N. D. Sinitshenkova. 2002. Order Ephemerida Latreille, 1810. The true mayflies (=Ephemeroptera Hyatt et Arms, 1891 (s. l.); =Euephemeroptera Kluge, 2000. In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 89–97. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[K-P83] Kukalová-Peck, J. 1983. Origin of the insect wing and wing articulation from the arthropodan leg. Canadian Journal of Zoology 61: 1618–1669.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[LNM91] Lawrence, J. F., E. S. Nielsen & I. M. Mackerras. 1991. Skeletal anatomy and key to orders. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 3–32. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[MG06] Mallatt, J., & G. Giribet. 2006. Further use of nearly complete 28S and 18S rRNA genes to classify Ecdysozoa: 37 more arthropods and a kinorhynch. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 772–794.

[R02] Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2002. Subclass Lepismatona Latreille, 1804. The wingless insects (=Thysanura Latreille 1796, s. l.) In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 69–74. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[SBG11] Staniczek, A. H., G. Bechly & R. J. Godunko. 2011. Coxoplectoptera, a new fossil order of Palaeoptera (Arthropoda: Insecta), with comments on the phylogeny of the stem group of mayflies (Ephemeroptera). Insect Systematics and Evolution 42: 101–138.

Meinertellidae

Rock bristletail Machiloides banksi, copyright Katja Schulz.

Belongs within: Archaeognatha.

The Meinertellidae are a group of bristletails found primarily in the Southern Hemisphere, characterised by very small abdominal sterna which only protrude slightly, if at all, between the coxites, no scales on the legs, scape and pedicel, and male terminalia with a very short penis and lacking parameres (Watson & Smith 1991).

<==Meinertellidae [Meinertellinae] R02
    |--Neomachilellus F90
    |--Megalopsobius W39
    |--Machilontus W39
    |--Meinertellus cundinamarcensis W39, SC17
    |--Meinertelloides W39
    |--Macropsontus W39
    |--Machilellus W39
    |--Allomachilis Silvestri 1904 W39
    |    `--A. froggatti Silvestri 1904 W39
    |--Hypomachilodes Silvestri 1911 F90
    |    `--H. texanus F90
    |--Machilinus Silvestri 1904 F90
    |    |--M. aurantiacus F90
    |    `--M. nevadensis Sweetman 1937 S37
    |--Nesomachilis WS91
    |    |--N. australica WS91
    |    |--N. maoricus A99 [=Machiloides maoricus W39]
    |    |--N. queenslandica WS91
    |    `--N. tamborina WS91
    `--Machiloides Silvestri 1904 F90
         |--M. australicus Wom. 1938 W39
         |--M. banksi Silvestri 1911 F90
         |--M. hickmani Womersley 1939 W39
         |--M. petauristes Wygodzinsky & Schmidt 1980 F90
         `--M. sarasini [incl. M. s. var. montivaga, M. s. var. profuga] W39

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A99] Ax, P. 1999. Das System der Metazoa II. Ein Lehrbuch der phylogenetischen Systematik. Gustav Fisher Verlag: Stuttgart (transl. 2000. Multicellular Animals: The phylogenetic system of the Metazoa vol. 2. Springer).

[F90] Ferguson, L. M. 1990. Insecta: Microcoryphia and Thysanura. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 935–949. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[SC17] Schwentner, M., D. J. Combosch, J. P. Nelson & G. Giribet. 2017. A phylogenomic solution to the origin of insects by resolving crustacean-hexapod relationships. Current Biology 27: 1818–1824.

[S37] Sweetman, H. L. 1937. A new species of Machilinus (Thysanura: Machilidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 39 (8): 214–216.

[WS91] Watson, J. A. L., & G. B. Smith. 1991. Archaeognatha. Microcoryphia (bristletails). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 272–274. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[W39] Womersley, H. 1939. Primitive Insects of South Australia: Silverfish, springtails, and their allies. South Australian Branch of the British Science Guild: Adelaide.