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Insects are members of a larger group called the arthropods. This group also includes spiders, ticks, centipedes, lobsters, and crabs. Like all arthropods, insects have a body that is divided into segments, or sections.
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Insects are distinguished from other members of the animal...
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definition: a small animal whose body is divided into three parts. Insects also have three pairs of legs and usually one or two pairs of wings. Bees, ants, butterflies, beetles, and flies are some kinds of insects.
Insects are also called arthropods. Some have wings, and some don’t. But all have a few things in common. Insects are a class of invertebrates characterized by a three-part body, three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and wings (in most species).
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Insects have exoskeletons (skeletons on the outside). Their skeletons are made out of thin, hard pieces or plates, like armour, made of chitin. All together, these pieces make a hard layer around the insect’s body. The exoskeleton protects the insect. The body of an insect has three main parts: a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. On the head are an i...
Just like our muscles connect to our bones to make us walk and stand up, the muscles of an insect connect to the exoskeleton to make it walk and move. Their muscles are on the insideof their skeleton. Insects are cold-blooded, which means that they cannot control their body temperature. This means that insects are not good at surviving the cold, at...
Origin of insects
The oldest known insect fossil is the Devonian Rhyniognatha, from the 396 million year old Rhynie chert. It may have superficially resembled a modern-day silverfish insect. This species already possessed mandibles of a type associated with winged insects, suggesting that wings may already have evolved at this time. Thus, the first insects probably appeared earlier, in the Silurianperiod.
Origin of wings
In 2008, researchers uncovered what they believe is the world's oldest known full-body impression of a primitive flying insect, a 300 million-year-old specimen from the Carboniferousperiod. The origins of insect flightremain obscure, since the earliest winged insects currently known appear to have been capable fliers. Some extinct insects had an additional pair of winglets attaching to the first segment of the thorax, for a total of three pairs. It seems the insects were not a particularly su...
Different kinds of insects can be divided into groups called orders. There are many insect orders. The biggest insect orders are listed below: 1. Beetles(order Coleoptera) have the front pair of wings changed into a hard shell to protect the back wings. 2. Butterflies and moths (order Lepidoptera) have large, often colourful wings. 3. Flies(order D...
This taxonomylists some of the better known groups of insects. 1. Archaeognatha(Jumping bristletails) 2. Thysanura (Silverfishor Bristletails) 3. Palaeoptera (insects that cannot flex their wings over their abdomen) 3.1. Ephemeroptera(Mayflies) 3.2. Odonata 3.2.1. Anisoptera(Dragonflies) 3.2.2. Zygoptera(Damselflies) 4. Neoptera (Insects that can f...
Pests can be harmful to people in different ways. Some are parasites, such as lice and bed bugs. Some of these parasite insects can spread diseases, such as mosquitoes spreading malaria. Other pest insects do not directly hurt people. Termites and some beetles eat wood and sometimes eat buildings, such as houses. However, termites also help break d...
Evolution has produced enormous variety in insects. Pictured are some possible shapes of antennae.A pie chart of described eukaryotespecies, showing just over half of these to be insectsThe tube-like heart (green) of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae extends horizontally across the body, interlinked with the diamond-shaped wing muscles (also green) and surrounded by pericardial cells...The different forms of the male (top) and female (bottom) tussock moth Orgyia recens is an example of sexual dimorphismin insects.The HST guide to insects for kids discusses anatomy, habitat, and classification. Fun activities, too! Pre-K through Grade 2. Start now.
Insects are distinguished from other members of the animal kingdom by having six legs; one pair of antennae; a ringed, or segmented, body; and three well-defined body regions. It is from the joined body rings, or segments, that insects derived their name, for the Latin word insecta means “segmented.”.
Mar 17, 2022 · Did you know that most animals on earth are insects? Insects have different adaptations to move, eat, mate, and live in different environments, but they all ...
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