A Text-book of Entomology: Including the Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology and Metamorphoses of Insects for Use in Agricultural and Technical Schools and Colleges as Well as by the Working EntomologistPackard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)
Science
A Text-book of Entomology: Including the Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology and Metamorphoses of Insects for Use in Agricultural and Technical Schools and Colleges as Well as by the Working Entomologist
Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)
Insects
Arachnida also show their later origin than merostomes by the fact that
their sexual glands are in most cases single, and though with rare
exceptions the ducts are paired, these finally unite and open externally
by a common single genital aperture in the median line of the body, at
the base of the abdomen (Fig. 3, _C_, _D_). In this respect Limulus,
with its pair of genital male or female openings, situated each at the
end of a papilla, placed widely apart at the base of the first abdominal
limbs, is decidedly more archaic. Unlike Crustacea and insects,
Arachnida do not, except in the mites (Acarina), which is a very much
modified group, undergo a metamorphosis.
We see, then, that the insects, with the Myriopoda, are somewhat
isolated from the other Arthropoda. The Myriopoda have a single pair of
antennæ, and as they have other characters in common with insects, Lang
has united the two groups in a single class _Antennata_; but, as we
shall see, this seems somewhat premature and unnecessary. Yet the two
groups have perhaps had a common parentage, and may prove to belong to a
distinct, common phylum.
Not only by their structure and embryology, as well as their
metamorphosis, do the myriopods and insects stand apart from the
Arachnida and other arthropods, but it seems probable that they have had
a different ancestry, the arthropods being apparently polyphyletic.
There are two animals which appear to connect the insects with the
worms, and which indicate a separate line of descent from the worms
independent of that of the other classes. These are the singular
Peripatus, which serves as a connecting link between arthropods and
worms, and Scolopendrella (Symphyla). These two animals are guide-posts,
pointing out, though vaguely to be sure, the way probably trod by the
forms, now extinct, which led up to the insects.
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