What are insects like?
Characteristics of insects
Insects are a type of arthropod, which means that they have the body protected by an external skeleton, also called exoskeleton and they have articulated legs and body.
Insects are the animal group with a greater number of species.
They constitute the food source for many animals: bats, insectivorous birds, hedgehogs, amphibians and reptiles.
These animals are used in the biological control against other insects, since there are many of these other insect-eating arthropods, such as prayer mantises, and others that are insect parasites such as ichneumon wasps.
These animals live in almost all habitats, including the marine one, although very few species are found here.
Main characteristics of insects
In addition to having an external skeleton, insects are mainly characterized by:
- Body divided into 3 parts: head, thorax and abdomen. The head has mouthparts (chewing, sucking, piercing or licking type) and compound eyes formed by facets.
- Animals with 3 pairs of legs.
Parts of an insect (grasshopper). The grasshopper is an insect and as such it shares characteristics with this group of invertebrates, such as having 3 pairs of legs and having a pair of antennae. They are provided with 1 pair of antennae.
- Animals equipped with 2 pairs of wings (there are insects that do not have wings and other insects only have a pair of wings, such as flies).
- Nervous system formed by a encephalon or brain divided into 3 parts: the protobrain, the deutobrain and the tritobrain.
- Development by simple metamorphosis (hemimetabolous insects) or by complete metamorphosis (holometabolous insects).
- Presence of the molt in the development and passage through different phases: egg, larva, pupa (only in those with complete metamorphosis) and adult (imago).
- Social behavior in some species.
* Related information: Iberian marbled white characteristics
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