Aristotle had included in one class "Entoma" the six-legged arthropods which form the modern zoological class of the Hexapoda or Insecta, besides the Arachnida, the centipedes and the millipedes.
The names Condylopoda and Gnathopoda have been subsequently proposed for the same group. The word refers to the jointing of the chitinized exo-skeleton of the limbs or lateral appendages of the animals included, which are, roughly speaking, the Crustacea, Arachnida, Hexapoda (so-called " true insects "), Centipedes and Millipedes.
Mosquitoes, termites, bees, ants, centipedes, millipedes, locusts, grasshoppers, butterflies, dragonflies, sandflies and spiders' are found in immense numbers.
Linnaeus in his Systema naturae (1735) grouped under the class Insecta all segmented animals with firm exoskeleton and jointed limbs - that is to say, the insects, centipedes, millipedes, crustaceans, spiders, scorpions and their allies.