science

Polyneoptera

Polyneoptera is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Polyneoptera rather than just read about it. In short: The cohort Polyneoptera is one of the major groups of winged insects, comprising the Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.) and all other neopteran insects believed to be more closely related to Orthoptera than to any other insect orders. They were formerly grouped together with the Palaeoptera and Paraneoptera as the Hemimetabola or Exopterygota on the grounds that they have no pupa, the wings gradually developi…

Key takeaways

Polyneoptera belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Polyneoptera to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Polyneoptera from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The cohort Polyneoptera is one of the major groups of winged insects, comprising the Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.) and all other neopteran insects believed to be more closely related to Orthoptera than to any other insect orders. They were formerly grouped together with the Palaeoptera and Paraneoptera as the Hemimetabola or Exopterygota on the grounds that they have no pupa, the wings gradually developing externally throughout the nymphal stages; their metamorphosis is deemed "incomplete". Many members of the group have leathery forewings (tegmina) and hindwings with an enlarged anal field (vannus). When Carl Linnaeus started applying binomial names to animals in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae in 1758, he recognized relatively few animal species, and consequently relatively few groups that encompassed these species. As more and more new species were discovered, described and named, and importantly, their differences recognised and codified, the original groups proposed by Linnaeus were split up and/or expanded. The group of insects now recognized as being polyneopterans were, by Linnaeus, considered to belong within the genus Gryllus; the modern definition of this genus is restricted to species of closely related crickets, but in Linnaeus' original definition the genus contained crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, katydids / bush crickets (Tettigoniidae), stick insects, and praying mantises. These groups, along with the cockroaches, which Linnaeus considered as distinct, are all polyneopteran insects. The recently recognized order Mantophasmatodea is also included within Polyneoptera.

Taxonomy

Extant The following extant orders are included in Polyneoptera:

Superorder Dictyoptera Order Blattodea (cockroaches and termites) Order Mantodea (praying mantises) Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, katydids) Order Dermaptera (earwigs) Order Embioptera (web-spinners) Order Plecoptera (stoneflies) Order Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) Order Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) Order Phasmatodea (stick and leaf insects) Order Zoraptera (angel insects)

Fossil The following fossil groups are included in Polyneoptera:

Archaeorthoptera (Orthoptera and stem-group relatives) †Caloneurodea †Cnemidolestodea (= Cnemidolestida) †Geraroptera †Titanoptera – Carboniferous to Triassic order Incertae sedis family †Cacurgidae Handlirsch, 1911 family †Chresmodidae Haase, 1890 family †Permostridulidae Béthoux, Nel, Lapeyrie & Gand, 2003 family †Protophasmatidae Brongniart, 1885 genus †Chenxiella Liu, Ren & Prokop, 2009 genus †Lobeatta Béthoux, 2005 genus †Longzhua Gu, Béthoux & Ren, 2011 genus †Nectoptilus Béthoux, 2005 genus †Sinopteron Prokop & Ren, 2007 Stem-group Phasmatodea †family Xiphopteridae Sharov 1968 †family Prochresmodidae Vishnyakova 1980 †family Aeroplanidae Tillyard 1918 †family Cretophasmatidae Sharov 1968 †family Aerophasmatidae Martynov, 1928 Stem-group Dermaptera †Protelytroptera †"Grylloblattida" (Stem-group Grylloblattodea?) †Geinitziidae †Gorochoviidae †Juraperlidae †Bajanzhargalanidae ... †Eoblattida †Paoliida †Protorthoptera † family Magicivenidae

Phylogeny The following cladogram is based on the molecular phylogeny of Wipfler et al. 2019:

Phylogeny after Wang et al. 2026

See also List of Orthopteroid genera containing species recorded in Europe List of orthopteroids of Korea

Notes

References

External links Media related to Polyneoptera at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Polyneoptera

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Polyneoptera claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Polyneoptera before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Polyneoptera ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Polyneoptera

In research: Polyneoptera appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Polyneoptera in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Polyneoptera is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Insects by classification, Neoptera, Polyneoptera, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Polyneoptera outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Polyneoptera in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Polyneoptera means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Polyneoptera out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Polyneoptera in simple terms?

Why does Polyneoptera matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Polyneoptera?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Polyneoptera.