LIBRARY

CHAPTER XVIII
15. Order EMBIOPTERAI Shipley 1904
(Em'bi-op'ter-a, from the Greek €fJ,f3ws, lively, + 7r'Tfpa,
wings.) German, Embien. French, Embiides.
Embiids, Embiopterans, Webspinners.
Small, '>lender, campodeiform insects with biting and chewing mouth parts and simple
or hemimetabolous metamorphosis. Head large, antennre filiform; compound eyes
small in female, often large in male; ocelli absent; thorax nearly as long as abdomen;
legs short and stout for running, tarsi three-segmented, first tarsal segment of forelegs
enlarged to contain glands and spinnerets. Wings, two pairs, membranous, similar in
size, shape, and venation, held fiat over body in repose, present or absent in males,
absent in females.
This is a small group of truly peculiar insects which is widely distributed
throughout the tropical and more temperate regions of the world. Because of
their secluded habits, embiids are scarcely known even to entomologists.
Wherever the insects occur, their presence is indicated by the numerous filmy
white webbed tunnels and coverways which they spin copiously throughout the
range of their activities. Sometimes the webs are evident in the debris on the
surface of the soil at the bases of grasses, weeds, and other plants during the
rainy season, but more often they appear to occur under stones, bark, pieces of
wood, dried dung, and similar objects which serve as covering and protection
for their habitations. Some species, like Clothoda uriclti (Sauss.) of Trinidad,
live under the bark of trees and others are reported to inhabit by chance the
nests of ants and termites. In California, where there is a distinct wet winter
season and a dry summer season, colonies of Gynembia tarsalia Ross may be
observed on open, grassy slopes and hillsides during the winter after the first
soaking rains and until the vegetation dries up in early summer, when the
species retreats into the soil. The members of this species are decidedly gregarious
and may occur in large societies; and their silken coverways and tunnels
extend over much of the surface of the ground and of whatever objects they are
living beneath. Although much study and attention has been given to them
over a period of many years, and large numbers have been confined in the
I The order name of these insects has been repeatedly changed. Among the important
names used are: EMBIDINA Hagen 1861. EMBIDOPTERES Lameere 1900. EMBIIDINA
Enderlcin 1903, EMDIODEA Kusnezow 1903, EMBIOIDEA, EMBIARIA IIandlirsch 1903,
EMBIOPTERA Shipley 1904, ADENOPODA Verhoff 1904, OLIGONEURA Bomer 1904,
EMBIJE Jacobson and Bianchi 1905, EMBIDOS Navas 190[;. EMBIDARIA HandUrsch
1906, and MTIOPTERA Enderlein 1912. While the name EMBIIDINA appears to have
priority, the author is using the generally accepted term EMBIOPTERA as recently employed
by Imms 1930, Metcalf and Flint 1932, Folsom and Wardle 1934, DaVIS 1939, and
Ross 1940.
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