Narrative

Black Petaltail (Tanypteryx hageni) is found from southern British Columbia south to northern California. The widely separated eyes help identify this species.

This lifeform is rare.

This lifeform is found in the Pacific States and Provinces of North America.

Tanypteryx genus has a single representative in North America. There is a second representative that is found in Japan. The larvae of this genus dig burrows in boggy areas.

Petaluridae have widely separated eyes that help identify them.

Dragonflies and Damselflies (Order Odonata) are a very ancient group of insects with over five thousand species known. The North American area contains about 450 of these insects. These insects are capable flyers and catch their prey (usually smaller insects) while in flight. The larvae live in water and are also predators.

Since dragonflies (both adults and larvae) eat many mosquitoes, they are among the most beneficial of all insects. Spraying swamps several times a year with a broad pesticide to kill all insects often destroys the dragonfly species. Their life cycles are typically many months or a year. On the other hand, many mosquitoes have short life cycles. With a natural predator eliminated, the mosquitoes can become even more abundant.

Many species in this family are brilliantly colored when alive, but these colors fade when specimens are placed in mounted collections.

Insects (Class Insecta) are the most successful animals on Earth if success is measured by the number of species or the total number of living organisms. This class contains more than a million species, of which North America has approximately 100,000. (Recent estimates place the number of worldwide species at four to six million.)

Insects have an exoskeleton. The body is divided into three parts. The foremost part, the head, usually bears two antennae. The middle part, the thorax, has six legs and usually four wings. The last part, the abdomen, is used for breathing and reproduction.

Although different taxonomists divide the insects differently, about thirty-five different orders are included in most of the systems.

The following abbreviated list identifies some common orders of the many different orders of insects discussed herein:

Odonata: - Dragon and Damsel Flies
Orthoptera: - Grasshoppers and Mantids
Homoptera: - Cicadas and Misc. Hoppers
Diptera: - Flies and Mosquitoes
Hymenoptera: - Ants, Wasps, and Bees
Lepidoptera: - Butterflies and Moths
Coleoptera: - Beetles

Jointed Legged Animals (Phylum Arthropoda) make up the largest phylum. There are probably more than one million different species of arthropods known to science. It is also the most successful animal phylum in terms of the total number of living organisms.

Butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers, various insects, spiders, and crabs are well-known arthropods.

The phylum is usually broken into the following five main classes:
Arachnida: - Spiders and Scorpions
Crustacea: - Crabs and Crayfish
Chilopoda: - Centipedes
Diplopoda: - Millipedes
Insecta: - Insects

There are several other "rare" classes in the arthropods that should be mentioned. A more formal list is as follows:

Sub Phylum Chelicerata
C. Arachnida: - Spiders and scorpions
C. Pycnogonida: - Sea spiders (500 species)
C. Merostomata: - Mostly fossil species

Sub Phylum Mandibulata
C. Crustacea: - Crabs and crayfish

Myriapod Group
C. Chilopoda: - Centipedes
C. Diplopoda: - Millipedes
C. Pauropoda: - Tiny millipede-like
C. Symphyla: - Garden centipedes

Insect Group
C. Insecta: - Insects

The above list does not include some extinct classes of Arthropods such as the Trilobites.