Insects, A Key to Orders

1 Wings absent or if present hidden beneath thick, sometimes hard and shiny, sometimes leathery, front wings, or wing coverings (Be careful here. If there's a crack down the back, probably that's where the front wings or wing coverings meet and there are regular flying wings folded below...)	Go to... 7
1 Wings clearly visible when the insect is at rest	2
2 Butterflies & moths; mouthparts consisting of coiled tubes for sucking; wings covered with tiny colored scales	LEPIDOPTERA; butterflies & moths
2 Not butterflies & moths; mouthparts not coiled tubes; wings not covered with tiny colored scales	3
3 One pair of wings	DIPTERA; flies
3 Two pairs of wings	4
4 Front wings longer and with considerably larger surface area than hind wings	5
4 Front wings with about the same area as hind wings	6
5 Wasps and bees; tarsi ("feet") 5-jointed, usually thin-waisted	HYMENOPTERA; wasps & bees
5 Not wasp or bees; tarsi 2- or 3-jointed, waist usually thick	HOMOPTERA; cicadas, aphids
6 Antennae short stubs, compound eyes very large, body slender	ODONATA; dragonflies
6 Antennae hairlike, eyes not particularly large,thick-bodied	ISOPTERA; termites
7 Wings entirely absent	8
7 With wings, though they may be hidden beneath a wing covering	12
8 Bodies narrow-waisted, antlike	HYMENOPTERA (worker ants, etc.)
8 Bodies thicker	9
9 Egg-shaped, rear end usually equipped with 2 short tubes (aphids)	HOMOPTERA; cicadas, aphids
9 Bodies more slender shaped, rear end without 2 short tubes (not aphids)	10
10 Most of body whitish, soft-bodied (termites)	ISOPTERA; termites
10 Most of body not whitish, usually hard-bodied	11
11 Antennae with 4 or 5 segments, mouth parts sucking	HEMIPTERA; true bugs
11 Antennae with many segments, mouth parts chewing	ORTHOPTERA; grasshoppers, crickets
12 Rear end (abdomen) with tweezerlike appendages	DERMAPTERA; earwigs
12 Rear end without tweezers-like appendages	13
13 Mouth parts sucking, usually straw-like	14
13 Mouth parts for chewing	15
14 Front wings thick (leathery) and often colored at the base, but clear at the tip; beak rises from head's front or bottom	HEMIPTERA; true bugs
14 Front wings of same texture throughout; beak rises from back part of bottom of head	HOMOPTERA; cicadas, aphids
15 Front wings with obvious veins, when at rest the edges over the back often partly overlapping one another, usually not conspicuously hard	ORTHOPTERA; grasshoppers, crickets
15 Front wings without veins, when at rest the edges over the back meeting one another in a straight line, usually hard like thin plastic	COLEOPTERA; beetles

OK, the test insect is a Hemiptera, a "true bug." It's a Leaf-footed Bug of the family Coreidae, but I'm not sure what its genus and species are.

You might like to look at a key to all the orders at the the UK's "Bug ID" Page.

	See if you can "key out" the insect at the left. Note that the wings on the insect's right are forced open. When this species is at rest, its back wings are hidden beneath its front wings. Also, you can't see the mouth parts, but they are of the "sucking" type.
USING THIS KEY: First see if your insect is best described in the first option 1 (Wings absent or... ) or the second option 1 (Wingls clearly visible). If the first option 1 best describes your insect, then drop down to the two option 7s. If the second option 1 is best, drop down to the two option 2s. Keep doing this until an option description leads to a name, not another number.