The resurrected order Notoptera is made up of which two orders?

• A. Grylloblattodea and Mantophasmatodea
• B. Blattodea and Isoptera
• C. Odonata and Ephemeroptera
• D. Diptera and Lepidoptera

Answer: (A)

Notoptera represents a quick, meaningful grouping based on evolutionary relationships rather than simple similarity. The two orders that form this resurrected grouping are Grylloblattodea, the ice crawlers, and Mantophasmatodea, the gladiator insects. Both lineages are very primitive, lack wings or have greatly reduced wings, and share a set of features and genetic signals that place them as each other’s closest relatives among insects. Because of this close relationship, taxonomists revived Notoptera as a single, coherent order to reflect their common ancestry.

Other pairings bring together lineages that are not as closely related or consistently treated as a single unit in modern classification, so they don’t fit the Notoptera grouping.