Heteroptera facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Heteroptera
A pair of pondskaters mating
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Suborder:	Heteroptera Latreille, 1810

The Heteroptera is a group of about 40,000 species of insects in the Hemiptera. They are typical bugs.

"Heteroptera" is Greek for "different wings": most species have front wings with both membranous and hardened portions (called hemelytra.

The name "Heteroptera" is used in two different ways in modern classifications. In Linnean nomenclature it is a suborder of the order Hemiptera. In cladistics it is an unranked clade in the Hemiptera clade.

Selected families of Heteroptera

• Assassin bugs
• Broad-headed bugs
• Bedbugs and flower bugs
• Plant bugs
• Leaf-footed bugs, squash bugs and sweetpotato bugs
• Seed bugs
• Stink bugs or shield bugs and related families)

Heteropteran anatomy

Generalized morphology of a Shield bug Pentatomoidea

A: head; B: thorax; C: abdomen. 1: claws; 2: tarsus; 3: tibia; 4: femur; 8: compound eye; 9: antenna; 10: clypeus; 23: laterotergites; 25: pronotum; 26: scutellum; 27: clavus; 28: corium; 29: embolium; 30: membrane.

Waterbugs

"Waterbug" is a common name for various aquatic insects.

Selected families of water bugs

• Backswimmers (Notonectidae)
• Giant water bugs (Belostomatidae)
• Water scorpions (Nepidae)
• Water boatmen (Corixidae)
• Pond skaters (Gerridae)
• Smaller water strider (Veliidae)

See also

In Spanish: Heteroptera para niños