Portal:Insects

The Insects Portal

A western honey bee on a honeycomb created inside of a wooden beehive

A bull ant showing the powerful mandibles and the relatively large compound eyes that provide excellent vision

Insects (from Latin insectum) are invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have an exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and a pair of antennae. Insects are the most diverse group of animals, with more than a million described species; they represent more than half of all animal species. (Full article...)

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Juvenile female Gryllus campestris

Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms, "crickets" were placed at the family level (i.e. Gryllidae), but contemporary authorities including Otte now place them in the superfamily Grylloidea. The word has been used in combination to describe more distantly related taxa in the suborder Ensifera, such as king crickets and mole crickets.

Crickets have mainly cylindrically shaped bodies, round heads, and long antennae. Behind the head is a smooth, robust pronotum. The abdomen ends in a pair of long cerci; females have a long, cylindrical ovipositor. Diagnostic features include legs with 3-segmented tarsi; as with many Orthoptera, the hind legs have enlarged femora, providing power for jumping. The front wings are adapted as tough, leathery elytra, and some crickets chirp by rubbing parts of these together. The hind wings are membranous and folded when not in use for flight; many species, however, are flightless. The largest members of the family are the bull crickets, Brachytrupes, which are up to 5 cm (2 in) long. (Full article...)

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Did you know -

... that the fossil sawfly species Eriocampa tulameenensis was found along the Canadian Pacific rail line near Princeton, British Columbia?
... that the wasp Dinocampus coccinellae can turn a ladybird into a "zombie bodyguard"?
... that June mating displays of Photinus carolinus create moving bands of light and darkness that draw crowds one firefly scientist calls "obscene"?
... that the moose botfly Cephenemyia ulrichii shoots its larvae into people's eyes, perhaps because human eyes and moose nostrils both face forward?
... that musician David Rothenberg appears in a YouTube video playing jazz with cassini periodical cicadas, insects noted for their synchronized rhythm?

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The following are images from various insect-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Variety of male structures in Phlebotominae (Diptera, Psychodidae) (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 2Evolution has produced astonishing variety of appendages in insects, such as these antennae. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 3Frenulo-retinacular wing coupling in male and female moths (from Insect flight)
Image 4Mayfly nymph with paired abdominal gills (from Insect flight)
Image 5Showing the paired white paraprocts at the posterior tip. (from Insect morphology)
Image 6A tau emerald (Hemicordulia tau) dragonfly has flight muscles attached directly to its wings. (from Insect flight)
Image 7Stylized diagram of insect digestive tract showing malpighian tubule, from an insect of the order Orthoptera. (from Insect morphology)
Image 8Ctenopisma lineatum showing the two cerci and the central caudal filament. (from Insect morphology)
Image 9Scanning electron micrograph of a cricket spiracle valve (from Respiratory system of insects)
Image 10Direct flight: muscles attached to wings. Large insects only (from Insect flight)
Image 11The abdominal terminus of male scorpionflies is enlarged into a "genital bulb", as seen in Panorpa communis (from Insect morphology)
Image 12Reconstruction of Strudiella devonica as a possible hexapod (from Evolution of insects)
Image 13Mandibles of Rhyniognatha hirsti, it may be one of the oldest insects, but also possible to be a myriapod. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 14Fossil gnat in amber, a well-preserved insect fossil (from Evolution of insects)
Image 15
Insect morphology
Legend of body parts
Tagmata: A – Head, B – Thorax, C – Abdomen.
1. antenna
2. ocelli (lower)
3. ocelli (upper)
4. compound eye
5. brain (cerebral ganglia)
6. prothorax
7. dorsal blood vessel
8. tracheal tubes (trunk with spiracle)
9. mesothorax
10. metathorax
11. forewing
12. hindwing
13. mid-gut (stomach)
14. dorsal tube (heart)
15. ovary
16. hind-gut (intestine, rectum & anus)
17. anus
18. oviduct
19. nerve cord (abdominal ganglia)
20. Malpighian tubes
21. tarsal pads
22. claws
23. tarsus
24. tibia
25. femur
26. trochanter
27. fore-gut (crop, gizzard)
28. thoracic ganglion
29. coxa
30. salivary gland
31. subesophageal ganglion
32. mouthparts
(from Insect morphology)
Image 16Reconstruction of a Carboniferous insect, the palaeodictyopteran Mazothairos (from Insect flight)
Image 17Indian moon moth (Actias selene) with some of the spiracles identified (from Respiratory system of insects)
Image 18The Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) have direct flight musculature. (from Insect flight)
Image 19Male genitalia of Lepidoptera (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 20The female genitalia of Lepidoptera (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 21Cross-section of wing vein (from Insect morphology)
Image 22Diagram of a typical insect leg (from Insect morphology)
Image 23Mazothairos, a Carboniferous member of the now extinct order Palaeodictyoptera. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 24Hoverfly (Philhelius pedissequum) has indirect flight musculature. (from Insect flight)
Image 25A pie chart of described eukaryote species, showing just over half of these to be insects (from Insect biodiversity)
Image 26Generalized arthropod biramous limb. Trueman proposed that an endite and an exite fused to form a wing. (from Insect flight)
Image 27Queen Alexandra's birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) of Papua New Guinea (from Insect biodiversity)
Image 28Bumblebee defecating. Note the contraction of the anus, which provides internal pressure. (from Insect morphology)

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The Meadow Argus, Junonia villida (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), is a butterfly commonly found in Australia. It is also known as Albin's Hampstead Eye in the United Kingdom, where it has occurred only as an accidental import.

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Main WikiProject:

WikiProject Insects

Related projects:

WikiProject Arthropods
WikiProject Spiders
WikiProject Animals
WikiProject Tree of Life
WikiProject Biology

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WikiProject Lepidoptera

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Article requests : There are thousands of family-level through species-level articles that have yet to be started.
Categorization : Figure out what categories to add to each article so that others can find them more easily. Also use the {{WikiProject Insects}} template to classify the status of any articles related to insect taxa.
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