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Order Embioptera - Web-spinners
(Embio-ptera, from generic name Embia and Greek pteron = wing) |
Class: Insecta Order: Embioptera |
Examples: |
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Elongate, soft-bodied insects living in silken web-like
tunnels. Males sometimes with two pairs of equal-sized membranous wings.
The wings are smoky brown in colour and clothed with fine hairs. Females
always wingless. Head as broad as the body, with typical biting jaws.
Tarsi 3-segmented, with the basal segment of each front tarsus enlarged
and swollen. Metamorphosis simple. About 170 known species distributed
throughout all the warmer regions of the world, with a few in
southern Europe. Absent from the British Isles. |
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Haploembia sp. |
Description. Brown,
up to 10 mm long.
Biology. Known as
Web-spinners because they make silken webs and tunnels under
stones, logs and in the soil. They live in small communities
of a dozen or so individuals and generally stay in and around
their tunnels. Although the individuals do not cooperate, their
tangled, communal webs probably give extra protection from
centipedes and other predators. The silk is produced from special
glands in the swollen tarsal segment on each front leg. Eggs are
laid in the tunnels and the female looks after them and the young
nymphs for a while. Food unknown, but probably omnivorous.
Distribution. Parts of
southern Europe.
Photo: V.J. Stanek © |

Female
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