What insects are there

Why are Insects so Successful? Insects owe much of their success to the following: Most insects have wings. Wings have helped insects move around. So when food becomes hard to find in one area, they can fly to another place with food. There a many ways that insects have changed their behavior or body in some way to live indifferent habitats and feed on different plants or animals. These changes include different kinds of legs, antennae, and mouthparts.

Eat about anything. Insects will feed many things that we would expect them to, like plants in our gardens. But some will feed on things that we would think are inedible, such as wood. The Mantodea praying mantids appeared in Eocene period in fossilised amber 60 - 35 million years ago. The two-winged insects, Order Diptera; the toothed insects, Order Odonata; and the net-winged insects, Order Neuroptera.

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Insects are arthropods The insect body Insect evolution Types of insects. Why most animals are insects.

Insects are arthropods. Arthropods are characterised by having the following features: a hard external skeleton called a exoskeleton a segmented body at least three pairs of jointed legs The Arthropoda is divided into a number of classes. Insect are successful and important The insects have proved to be the most successful arthropods. Close Modal Dialog. Stay in the know Get our monthly emails for amazing animals, research insights and museum events.

Sign up today. Insect classification Modern insect classification divides the Insecta into 29 orders, many of which have common names. Some of the more common orders are: Mantodea - praying mantids Blattodea - cockroaches Isoptera - termites Siphonaptera - fleas Odonata - dragonflies and damselflies Dermaptera - earwigs Diptera - flies Lepidoptera - butterflies and moths Orthoptera - grasshoppers, katydids, crickets Coleoptera - beetles Hymenoptera - wasps, bees, ants, sawflies.

The insect body. Insect features The insect body is divided into three main parts, the head, thorax and abdomen. Insects have no internal skeleton, instead they are covered in an external shell exoskeleton that protects their soft internal organs. No insect has more than three pairs of legs, except for some immature forms such as caterpillars that have prolegs. These are appendages that serve the purpose of legs.

The typical insect mouth has a pair of lower jaws maxillae and upper jaws mandibles which are designed to bite. They pollinate plants, decompose plant and animal matter, and are themselves a source of food. Birds alone are estimated to eat to million tons of insects per year. All rights reserved. About Insects. Latest Insect Videos. Fighting the Invasive Stinkbug. Now Playing. Up Next.

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