Embioptera

The order Embioptera, commonly known as webspinners or footspinners, are a small group of mostly tropical and subtropical insects, classified under the subclass Pterygota. The order has also been called Embiodea or Embiidina. More than 400 species in 11 families have been described, the oldest known fossils of the group being from the mid-Jurassic. Species are very similar in appearance, having long, flexible bodies, short legs, and only males having wings. Webspinners are gregarious, living subsocially in galleries of fine silk which they spin from glands on their forelegs. Members of these colonies are often related females and their offspring; adult males do not feed and die soon after mating. Males of some species have wings and are able to disperse, whereas the females remain near where they were hatched. Newly mated females may vacate the colony and found a new one nearby. Others may emerge to search for a new food source to which the galleries can be extended, but in general, the insects rarely venture from their galleries. The name Embioptera ("lively wings") comes from Greek εμβιος (embios), meaning "lively", and πτερον (pteron), meaning "wing", a name that has not been considered to be particularly descriptive for this group of fliers, perhaps instead referring to their remarkable speed of movement both forward and backward. The common name webspinner comes from the insects' unique tarsi on their front legs, which produce multiple strands of silk. They use the silk to make web-like galleries in which they live. Early entomologists considered the webspinners to be a group within the termites or the neuropterans and a variety of group names have been suggested including Adenopoda, Embidaria, Embiaria, and Aetioptera. In 1909 Günther Enderlein used the name Embiidina which was used widely for a while. Edward S. Ross suggested a new name, Embiomorpha in 2007. The currently most-widely accepted ordinal name is Embioptera, suggested by Arthur Shipley in 1904. Fossils of webspinners are rare.