Pterygota Temporal range: Upper Carboniferous to Recent, 320 mya – 0
Giant Honey Bee Apis dorsata on Tribulus terrestris (order Hymenoptera)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Superphylum:	Ecdysozoa
(unranked):	Tactopoda
Phylum:	Arthropoda
(unranked):	Pancrustacea
(unranked):	Hexapoda
Class:	Insecta
Subclass:	Pterygota
Extant orders
Infraclass: Palaeoptera (probably paraphyletic) Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Infraclass: Neoptera Superorder: Exopterygota Dermaptera (earwigs) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, etc) Phasmatodea (walking sticks) Embioptera (webspinners) Zoraptera (angel insects) Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) Psocoptera (booklice, barklice) Thysanoptera (thrips) Phthiraptera (lice) Hemiptera (true bugs) Superorder: Endopterygota Hymenoptera (ants, bees, etc.) Coleoptera (beetles) Strepsiptera (twisted-winged parasites) Raphidioptera (snakeflies) Megaloptera (alderflies, etc.) Neuroptera (net-veined insects) Mecoptera (scorpionflies, etc.) Siphonaptera (fleas) Diptera (true flies) Trichoptera (caddisflies) Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths) Blattodea (cockroaches and termites) Mantodea (mantises)

Pterygota is a subclass of insects that includes the winged insects. It also includes insect orders that are secondarily wingless. That means insect groups whose ancestors once had wings but that have lost them later in evolution.

The Pterygota today includes almost all insects. That is because flying led to a great radiation of insect types. The groups without flight are in the Apterygota.

In the Pterygota, are the Palaeoptera and the Neoptera. The Palaeoptera is paraphyletic, and its classification is being discussed. Likewise the Exopterygota. There are no agreed alternatives at present, so the taxonomy is left in its traditional form.