On this PAGE, you'll find information Insects, Where they live, Facts, what they eat, if their harmful, pictures and more.....

Insects are a class of invertebrates within the arthopod phylum that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three part body, three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and a pair of antennae.

Insects make up more than half of all living things in the world. Today there are more than a million known species of insects, thats 1,000,000 and there are many more to be discovered.

Species means a unique group of living things like Asian Elephant, Rose, Human Being.

Approximately.....40 "Million" Insects in an area the of a "Football" field.

Insects belong to a group called Anthropods. Arthropod means having limbs with many joints that bend in many directions.

Not all arthopods are insects. Spiders and centipedes are arthopods, but they are not insects. It's because insects only have 6 legs and centipeds have more. 

Another characteristic of insects is that they do not have bones or a skeleton. They have a rigid "skin" called an exoskeleton.

Insects have basic body parts Head, Thorax and Abdomen.

Beetle: the thorax and abdomen are covered by its wings.

All insects must have three body parts head, thorax abdomen, six jointed legs, two antennae to sense the world around them, an exoskeleton (outside body).

Insects are directly useful to humans by producing honey, wax, silk, and other products. They are also important as pollinators of crops, natural enemies of pests, scavengers and food for other creatures. At the same time, insects are a major pest to humans and domesticated animals because they destroy crops and carry diseases. Actually less than 1% of insects species are pests and only a few hundred of these are a consent problem.

              Insect Anatomy

Insects have a light weight, but strong exterior (outside) skeleton called an exoskeleton. Their muscles and organs are on the inside. This multi-layered exoskeleton protects the insect from the environment and natural enemies. The exoskeleton also has many sense organs for sensing light, pressure, sound, temperature, wind, and smells. Sense organs may also be located almost anywhere on the body, not just the head.

Insects have these three main body parts head, thorax, abdomen. The head is used mainly for eating, sensing things gathering information. Insect mouth parts have evolved for chewing (beetles, caterpillars), piercing sucking (aphids, bugs), sponging (flies), sucking (moths), rasping-sucking (thrips), cutting-sponging (biting flies), and chewing-lapping (wasps).

All insects have two antennae are short, long, thick, thin insects use them to feel, smell and even taste. 

The thorax protects the body and gives support for three pairs of jointed legs, and on many insects, for one or two pairs of wings. The legs may be adapted for running, grasping, digging, or swimming. 

The abdomen contains the organs used for digestion and reproduction.

Inside the body of an insect body has an open circulary system. That means thats its body fluids sort of flow around insist the exoskeleton. It also has many breathing tubes, and digestion system. It has a heart, a few blood vessels, and insect blood simply flows around the body cavity. Air enters the insect through a few openings in the exoskeleton called spiraclys. From there oxygen gets to all areas of the insects body through the breathing tubes, which go everywhere in the body. The insect "stomach" or digestive system, is long and tube like, and is usually divided into sections.

The insect nervous system send messages from the sense organs (sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch) to and from the brain. The brain is located in the head and processes information, but some information is also processed at nerve centers at different places in the body. 

          Insects Growth and Development          (Metamorphosis)

Insects usually go through four separate life cycles: Egg, larvae, or nymph, pupa and adult. Eggs are laid one at a time or in masses, in or on plants, or even, inside another insect. Eventually a larvae or nymph emerges from the egg. These are usually several larval or nymphal stages, called instars. All the growing happens during the larval or nymph stages. The eggs, pupae, and adult don't grow in size. The two types of metamorphosis typical of insects are incomplete metamorphosis (egg--> nymph-->adult) and complete metamorphosis (egg-->larva-->pupa-->adult).

With incomplete metamorphosis, the nymph stages look like the adult except that they don't have wings, and the nymph may be colored differently than the adults. Nymphs and adults usually live in the same kind of habitats.

Incomplete Metamorphosis, typical of beetles, fleas, moths, and wasps, the young insects that so through complete metamorphosis do not look like the adults, they often live in different habitats, and feed on different things. Some moth and wasp larvae involve a silken shell (cocoon) to protect the pupa. In n flies, the last larval skin becomes a puparium, a kind of hard shell, that protects the pupa. Insects are cold-blooded, so the rate at which they grow and develop depends on the temperature of their environment. Cooler temperatures causes slow growth, high temperatures speed up the growing process. If a season is hot, more generations, or life cycles, might happen than during a cool season.

      Web Links to Learn About Insects 

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect     Insect. Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia for you and family.

www.animalsnationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/ Bug pictures, insects...Learn all you wanted to know about bugs with pictures, videos, ohotos, facts, and news from "National Geographic".

www.urbannext.illuis.edu/insects/o1.html           Let's Talk about "Insects".

www.insects.org                                                 The fascinating stories of insects and the roles they play in our lives. Cultural entomology, insect macrophotography, educational resources and links to other amazing things to learn about.

www.enchantinglearning.com/subjects/insects/printouts.shtml Insect printouts. Print out animal pages information sheets to color.

www.1.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/houseplant-insect-control/                                                     Houseplant insect control: University of Minnesota Exte.......

www.rt.com/news/us-drones-swams-274             USA military surveillance future: Drones now come in swa......

www.entomology.wisc.edu/insectid/                   UW-Madison, Dept. of Entomolgy Insects ID Home Page.

www.pnhandbooks.org/insects/                           Pacific Northwest Insect Management handbook.

www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/agpubs/ag-433.pdf                                                                Master Gardener Insect Guide. North Carolina Co......

www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthopods/insects

www/insects.about.com/                                     Insects, find out everything is to know about insects and stay updated on the latest insect research with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and insects.

www.Ted.com/topics/insects                               Each of Ted's "TALK"S" explore the topic of 'Insects", in 18 minutes or less. Great way to spend your afternoons.

www.oum.ox.al/uk.thezone/insects/                     Flies, fleas, beetles, ans bees are insects, and the study of insects is "Entomology". Insects are probably the most important group of animals on earth.

www.abcnews.go.com>Lifestyles                        McGill MBA students who won 2013 Hult Prize Plan to Farm Bugs.

www.windows.microsoft.com/en-us/.../insects-dynamic-download-theme                                    Examine the insect world up close in this "FREE" Windows theme for your "DESKTOP".

       Insect and Bug Vocabulary List 

Admiral butterfly

Ambush bug

Ant

Army worm

Assassin bug

Atlas moth

Backswimmer

Bedbug

Bee

Beetle

Blue morpho butterfly

Bluet

Borer 

Brown butterfly

Buckeye butterfly

Bug

Bumblebee

Butterfly

Carpenter ant

Caterpiller ant

Caterpillar

Chrysalis

Cicada

Cockroach

Common butterfly

Copper butterfly

Crone fly

Cricket

Cutworm

Damsel fly

Darklingbeetle

Dragonfly

Dung beetle

Earwig

Egg

Fire ant

Firefly

Flea

Fly

Fritillary butterfly

Fruit fly

Gnat

Gossamer-winged butterfly

Ground beetle

Grub

Gypsy moth

Hairstreak butterfly

Harlequin bug

Horsefly

Hoverfly

Imago

Insect

Japanese beetle

Julia butterfly

Jumping bean

June bug

Katyclic

Kissing bug

Ladybug

Lacewing

Larva

Leafcutter ant

Lice

Lightning bug

Locust

Longhazn beetle

Louse

Lonamoth

Maggot

Mantid

Manis

Mayfly

Meadowhawk

Mealworm

Metalmark butterfly

Metamorphosis

Midge

Milkweed bug

Monarch

Morpho

Mosquito

Moth

Nymph

Oregon silverspot butterfly

Owl butterfly

Painted lady butterfly

Paper wasp

Planthopper

Pond slcater

Praying manid

Praying mantis

Pupa

Roach

Robberfly

Scarab

Silkworm

Silverfish

Skipper

Snout butterfly

Spittlebug

Springtail

Stagbeetle 

Stink bug

Stone fly

Sulphur butterfly

Swallowtail butterfly 

Termite

Thrip

Tiger beetle

Tiger moth

Tsetse fly

Ulysses butterfly 

Viceroy butterfly

Walking stick

Wasp

Water boatman

Waterbug

Water strider

Weeril

Wood-Borer

Wood nymph butterfly

Woolly bear caterpillar

Yellow Jacket

Yellow-white butterfly

Zebra longwing butterfly

Zebra swallowtail butterfly 

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