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Nov 13, 2023 · Epidermal Cell Layer. This cellular layer lies right beneath the cuticle and secretes the components that form the cuticle. Different specialized epidermal cells exist: Pore cells – Deliver cuticle proteins for secretion; Sensory cells – Embedded sense organs like sensilla; Gland cells – Produce waxes, pheromones, etc.
Nov 17, 2022 · Unlike a human’s vertebral column, an insect’s spine is a cellular outgrowth of its exoskeleton coated in the cuticle. While growing and forming an exoskeleton, a single layer of epidermal cells secretes the cuticle that then hardens and creates a thorn-like spine. Not just for physical support, an insect’s spine has many other uses.
- Exoskeleton
- Setae
- Coloration
- Senses
- Pheromones
- Brain
- Eyes
- Simple Eyes
- Hearing
- Antennae
The exoskeleton, sometimes called the cuticle, covers the entire outer body of an insect; there’s no interior skeleton. Made of a polysaccharide derived from glucose, and called chitin, it protects a completely soft interior. The chitin can be firm or yielding, depending on its thickness. So, while an insect’s face and legs have thin layers to allo...
Setae (sing. seta), cover the entire body of most species. They often look like hair, but are actually chitin, like the rest of the insect’s exoskeleton, and can take several forms, including hairy-looking, bristly, and spiny. Setae may also be widened and flattened into scales, like those on the wings of butterflies and moths. Most setae are attac...
Insects produce colors in nearly every hue imaginable, sometimes in spectacular fashion, like some of the scarab beetles and butterflies. The colors are produced in several different ways: Some are the result of ordinary pigments, mainly melanin, which don’t change. But others result from light waves that refract (bend) after striking microscopic r...
Most insects have five senses, but they don’t detect stimuli in the same way humans do. For instance, they don’t have an actual nose, but they do have sensory organs all over their body that serve the same purpose. Insects can: 1. See, using compound eyes for visual resolution, and ocelli for light detection. 2. “Hear” through the movement of recep...
A means of communication among insects is with organic compounds called pheromones (scents). They’re messages that elicit responses from other members of the same species: there’s food over here; come mate with me; stay away from my eggs; help me fight this predator; flee; and more. The pheromones are released through glands located in several plac...
The brain, tiny as it is, can process myriad bits of input, and direct actions to the rest of the body. And, it has a human-like mid-brain structure (although more basic) that demonstrates levels of consciousness! Research suggests that they probably don’t feel grief or jealousy, but they may feel something like hunger and pain, and perhaps a sort ...
Most adult insects have two large compound eyes. They’re comprised of hundreds or even thousands of tiny lenses. Each lens (ommatidium) is connected to an optic nerve and faces a single direction, one that’s just a tad different from all the others. The brain receives and interprets visual input from all of them to form a complete picture. Compound...
In addition to their compound eyes, all adult insects have two or three tiny “simple eyes,” called ocelli (oh-CELL-ee). They have only one lens each, and can’t focus. Located at the top or front of the head (the position varies), their job is to detect the intensity of light and dark. Immature insects—known variously as nymphs, caterpillars, naiads...
Insects don’t have ears, but that doesn’t mean they can’t “hear,” in their own way. Sound waves create vibrations, and insects can detect them through sensory organs attached to stiff hairs scattered here and there on their body. Some species also have these organs on their antennae. A few, including cicadas, grasshoppers, and moths, have a thin ty...
The head has two antennae (an-TEN-ee), with three (some flies) up to 140 (cockroaches) muscled segments. The antennae (singular: antenna) serve as primary sense organs for smell, taste, touch, temperature, humidity, and pressure. They’re flexible and highly varied: long, short or stubby, feathery, bristly, thin, straight, or hair-like. Some even re...
In many insects, certain epidermal cells are specialized as exocrine glands. These large, secretory cells produce compounds (e.g. pheromones, repellants, etc.) that are released on the surface of the exoskeleton through microscopic ducts. Tiny hair-like projections or surface sculpturing of the cuticle are known as microtrichae or pile (PILL-EE ...
2 days ago · Below the cuticle lie the other two integument components: the epidermis, a single layer of secretory cells, and the basement membrane, which is an amorphous layer about 0.5 micrometers thick. Insect Head. Much like our own, the insect head is the anteriormost part of the body. Sounds obvious, right? But this isn’t the case for all life on earth.
Jan 17, 2019 · In the thorax, the blood vessel is not chambered. Like an aorta, the vessel simply directs the flow of hemolymph to the head. Insect blood is only about 10% hemocytes (blood cells); most of the hemolymph is watery plasma. The insect circulation system does not carry oxygen, so the blood does not contain red blood cells as ours does.
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An insect uses its digestive system to extract nutrients and other substances from the food it consumes. [3]Most of this food is ingested in the form of macromolecules and other complex substances (such as proteins, polysaccharides, fats, and nucleic acids) which must be broken down by catabolic reactions into smaller molecules (i.e. amino acids, simple sugars, etc.) before being used by cells ...
