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Nov 9, 2024 · See all videos for this article. social insect, any of numerous species of insects that live in colonies and manifest three characteristics: group integration, division of labour, and overlap of generations. Social insects are best exemplified by all termites (Isoptera; sometimes Blattodea) and ants (Formicidae) and by various bees and wasps ...
- Insects
Paper wasp Paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus). insect, (class...
- Insects
Insects live in a world of motion. This leaf-footed bug climbs wind blown grass and flies off. Insects (from Latin insectum) are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs ...
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insect, (class Insecta or Hexapoda), any member of the largest class of the phylum Arthropoda, which is itself the largest of the animal phyla. Insects have segmented bodies, jointed legs, and external skeletons (exoskeletons). Insects are distinguished from other arthropods by their body, which is divided into three major regions: (1) the head, which bears the mouthparts, eyes, and a pair of antennae, (2) the three-segmented thorax, which usually has three pairs of legs (hence “Hexapoda”) in adults and usually one or two pairs of wings, and (3) the many-segmented abdomen, which contains the digestive, excretory, and reproductive organs.
In a popular sense, “insect” usually refers to familiar pests or disease carriers, such as bedbugs, houseflies, clothes moths, Japanese beetles, aphids, mosquitoes, fleas, horseflies, and hornets, or to conspicuous groups, such as butterflies, moths, and beetles. Many insects, however, are beneficial from a human viewpoint; they pollinate plants, produce useful substances, control pest insects, act as scavengers, and serve as food for other animals (see below Importance). Furthermore, insects are valuable objects of study in elucidating many aspects of biology and ecology. Much of the scientific knowledge of genetics has been gained from fruit fly experiments and of population biology from flour beetle studies. Insects are often used in investigations of hormonal action, nerve and sense organ function, and many other physiological processes. Insects are also used as environmental quality indicators to assess water quality and soil contamination and are the basis of many studies of biodiversity.
In numbers of species and individuals and in adaptability and wide distribution, insects are perhaps the most eminently successful group of all animals. They dominate the present-day land fauna with about 1 million described species. This represents about three-fourths of all described animal species. Entomologists estimate the actual number of liv...
The majority of insects are small, usually less than 6 mm (0.2 inch) long, although the range in size is wide. Some of the feather-winged beetles and parasitic wasps are almost microscopic, while some tropical forms such as the hercules beetles, African goliath beetles, certain Australian stick insects, and the wingspan of the hercules moth can be as large as 27 cm (10.6 inches).
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In many species the difference in body structure between the sexes is pronounced, and knowledge of one sex may give few clues to the appearance of the other sex. In some, such as the twisted-wing insects (Strepsiptera), the female is a mere inactive bag of eggs, and the winged male is one of the most active insects known. Modes of reproduction are quite diverse, and reproductive capacity is generally high. Some insects, such as the mayflies, feed only in the immature or larval stage and go without food during an extremely short adult life. Among social insects, queen termites may live for up to 50 years, whereas some adult mayflies live less than two hours.
Some insects advertise their presence to the other sex by flashing lights, and many imitate other insects in colour and form and thus avoid or minimize attack by predators that feed by day and find their prey visually, as do birds, lizards, and other insects.
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Oct 16, 2019 · Close-up of a bee’s head. The insect’s two large compound eyes, three simple eyes and two antennae are clearly visible. The head houses the insect’s brain, mouthparts, and sensory organs including the eyes and antennae. An insect has a pair of large compound eyes and up to three simple eyes.
- Based on food habits. a. Carnivorous insects: These insects rely on other animal tissue to feed on. They do not cherish a vegetarian diet. Ex: Housefly, the mosquito.
- Classification based on presence of wings: a. Wingless insects: These insects lack wings in their entire life cycle. Ex: Apterygota, Scorpion, spiders, etc.
- Types of insects based on the method of Living. a. Free-living: These insects search for their own food. They mostly consume dead material or plant material.
- Types based on the living habitat: Insects differ in their place of abode. Few live on trees, while others on land and some of them on water or in water.
Feb 19, 2020 · Updated on February 19, 2020. The true social insects—all ants and termites, and some bees and wasps—comprise 75 percent of the world's insect biomass, according to E.O. Wilson. A colony of social bees can number in the tens of thousands, and hundreds of millions of ants can live together in a supercolony of interconnected nests.
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Insects also have six legs. This is one way that insects differ from spiders, which have eight legs. Insects also have at least one pair of antennas, or feelers. The three major segments of an insect body are the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head contains the insect’s antennas, mouthparts, and eyes. The adults of many species have ...
