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Protura

File:Protura_(Acerentomon_species)_micrograph.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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The Protura, or proturans, and sometimes nicknamed coneheads, are very small (0.6–1.5mm long), soil-dwelling animals, so inconspicuous they were not noticed until the 20th century. The Protura constitute an order of hexapods that were previously regarded as insects, and sometimes treated as a class in their own right.

OverviewAI-generated

Protura, commonly known as Beentasters, is a class within the phylum Arthropoda and kingdom Animalia. It belongs to the parent taxon Hexapoda. The scientific name Protura was established by Silvestri in 1907, and the taxon is currently accepted.

Records of this class are held by institutions including UAM, TTU, LACM, and CU. These records originate from the United States, Virgin Islands, and British territories. A total of 464 records and 6 media items are available in the iDigBio database. Additionally, there are 44,413 occurrences documented in the GBIF database.

Synthesized by Vinony from 30 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, iNaturalist, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Protura

CLASS

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumArthropoda
  3. ClassProtura
Observations0
Observations recorded44,413

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
464
With media
6
Family
Protura
Collections
UAM, TTU, LACM, CU
Recorded in
United States, Virgin Islands, British

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • Morphology
  • Ecology
  • Development
  • History
  • References
  • External links

The Protura, or proturans, and sometimes nicknamed coneheads, are very small (0.6–1.5mm long), soil-dwelling animals, so inconspicuous they were not noticed until the 20th century. The Protura constitute an order of hexapods that were previously regarded as insects, and sometimes treated as a class in their own right.

Some evidence indicates the Protura are basal to all other hexapods, although not all researchers consider them Hexapoda, rendering the monophyly of Hexapoda unsettled. Uniquely among hexapods, proturans show anamorphic development, whereby body segments are added during moults.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Protura” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (5)