Zoraptera

The insect order Zoraptera, commonly known as angel insects and sometimes ground lice, contains small and soft bodied insects with two forms: winged with wings sheddable as in termites, dark and with eyes (compound) and ocelli (simple); or wingless, pale and without eyes or ocelli. They have a characteristic nine-segmented beaded (moniliform) antenna. Their mouthparts are adapted for chewing and are mostly found under bark, in dry wood or in leaf litter. The order is found on most continents, but are absent in places like Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Europe. left|thumb|Winged fossil of Zorotypus hirsutus from the Late Cretaceous ([[Cenomanian) aged Burmese amber, around 99 million years old]]

== Description == left|thumb|Zorotypus sp. The name Zoraptera, given by Filippo Silvestri in 1913, is misnamed and potentially misleading: "zor" is Greek for pure and "aptera" means wingless. "Pure wingless" clearly does not fit the winged alate forms, which were discovered several years after the wingless forms had been described.