Protura
Sign in to saveThe 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.
Taxonomy · GBIF
CLASS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassProtura
Observations0
Groupinsecta
via GBIF · iNaturalist · CC0
Article
6 sectionsContents
- 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.