| Machiloides banksi | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Euarthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Archaeognatha |
| Family: | Meinertellidae |
| Genus: | Machiloides |
| Species: | M. banksi |
| Binomial name | |
| Machiloides banksi Silvestri, 1911 | |
Machiloides banksi is a species of rock bristletail, family of basal insects belonging to the order Archaeognatha, in the genus Machiloides . [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
The Meinertellidae are a small family of basal insects belonging to the order Archaeognatha. They are sometimes known as rock bristletails. These insects can be distinguished from members of the other Archaeognatha family, Machilidae, by the lack of scales at the base of the legs and antennae.
In phylogenetics, basal is the direction of the base of a rooted phylogenetic tree or cladogram. The term may be more strictly applied only to nodes adjacent to the root, or more loosely applied to nodes regarded as being close to the root. Each node in the tree corresponds to a clade; i.e., clade C may be described as basal within a larger clade D if its root is directly linked to the root of D. The terms deep-branching or early-branching are similar in meaning.
Insects or Insecta are hexapod invertebrates and the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Definitions and circumscriptions vary; usually, insects comprise a class within the Arthropoda. As used here, the term Insecta is synonymous with Ectognatha. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body, three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. Insects are the most diverse group of animals; they include more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living organisms. The total number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million; potentially over 90% of the animal life forms on Earth are insects. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, which are dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans.
