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 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, 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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T. saccata male specimen on display at the Australian Museum

Thopha saccata, the double drummer, is the largest Australian species of cicada and reputedly the loudest insect in the world. Documented by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1803, it was the first described and named cicada native to Australia. Its common name comes from the large dark red-brown sac-like pockets that the adult male has on each side of its abdomen—the "double drums"—that are used to amplify the sound it produces.

Broad-headed compared with other cicadas, the double drummer is mostly brown with a black pattern across the back of its thorax, and has red-brown and black underparts. The sexes are similar in appearance, though the female lacks the male's tymbals and sac-like covers. Found in sclerophyll forest in Queensland and New South Wales, adult double drummers generally perch high in the branches of large eucalypts. They emerge from the ground where they have spent several years as nymphs from November until March, and live for another four to five weeks. They appear in great numbers in some years, yet are absent in others. (Full article...)

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Did you know -

... that the flower chafer species Eupoecila australasiae gains its common name of 'fiddler beetle' from its violin-shaped markings?
... that the larvae of the Silky Hairstreak secrete substances that attract ants?
... that unlike other siricid wood wasps, Xeris spectrum does not have symbiotic fungi to aid its larvae as they burrow in the wood of fir and other conifer trees?
... that the extinct snakefly genus Proraphidia is known from fossils found in Spain, England, and Kazakhstan?
... that Kricogonia lyside can grow from egg to adult in as little as 13 days?

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

Image 1Mandibles of Rhyniognatha hirsti, it may be an oldest insect, but also possible to be a myriapod. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 2Closeup of a fire ant, showing fine sensory hairs on antennae (from Insect morphology)
Image 3
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 4Venation of insect wings, based on the Comstock-Needham system (from Insect morphology)
Image 5Scanning electron micrograph of a cricket spiracle valve (from Respiratory system of insects)
Image 6The Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) have direct flight musculature, as do mayflies. (from Insect flight)
Image 7A tau emerald (Hemicordulia tau) dragonfly has flight muscles attached directly to its wings. (from Insect flight)
Image 8Queen Alexandra's birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) of Papua New Guinea (from Insect biodiversity)
Image 9Direct flight: muscles attached to wings. Large insects only (from Insect flight)
Image 10The female genitalia of Lepidoptera (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 11Reconstruction Strudiella devonica as a possible hexapod (from Evolution of insects)
Image 12Fossil gnat in amber, a well-preserved insect fossil. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 13Generalized arthropod biramous limb. Trueman proposed that an endite and an exite fused to form a wing. (from Insect flight)
Image 14Larva of beetle, family Cerambycidae, showing sclerotised epicranium; rest of body hardly sclerotised (from Insect morphology)
Image 15Mayfly nymph with paired abdominal gills (from Insect flight)
Image 16Evolution has produced astonishing variety of appendages in insects, such as these antennae. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 17Cross-section of wing vein (from Insect morphology)
Image 18Bumblebee defecating. Note the contraction of the anus, which provides internal pressure. (from Insect morphology)
Image 19The abdominal terminus of male scorpionflies is enlarged into a "genital bulb", as seen in Panorpa communis (from Insect morphology)
Image 20Mazothairos, a Carboniferous member of the now extinct order Palaeodictyoptera. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 21Diagram of a typical insect leg (from Insect morphology)
Image 22Head of Orthoptera, Acrididae. a:antenna; b:ocelli; c:vertex; d:compound eye; e:occiput; f:gena; g:pleurostoma; h:mandible; i:labial palp; j:maxillary palps; k:maxilla; l:labrum; m:clypeus; n:frons (from Insect morphology)
Image 23Variety of male structures in Phlebotominae (Diptera, Psychodidae) (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 24The development of insect mouthparts from the primitive chewing mouthparts of a grasshopper in the center (A), to the lapping type (B) of a bee, the siphoning type (C) of a butterfly and the sucking type (D) of a female mosquito.
Legend: a – antennae
c – compound eye
lb – labium
lr – labrum
md – mandibles
mx – maxillae (from Insect morphology)
Image 25Indian moon moth (Actias selene) with some of the spiracles identified (from Respiratory system of insects)
Image 26Frenulo-retinacular wing coupling in male and female moths (from Insect flight)
Image 27Reconstruction of a Carboniferous insect, the palaeodictyopteran Mazothairos (from Insect flight)
Image 28Larva of Syrphid fly, member of Cyclorrhapha, without epicranium, almost without sclerotisation apart from its jaws. (from Insect morphology)
Image 29Stylized diagram of insect digestive tract showing malpighian tubule, from an insect of the order Orthoptera. (from Insect morphology)
Image 30Hoverfly (Philhelius pedissequum) has indirect flight musculature. (from Insect flight)
Image 31A pie chart of described eukaryote species, showing just over half of these to be insects (from Insect biodiversity)
Image 32Male genitalia of Lepidoptera (from Insect reproductive system)

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Reduviidae (Hemiptera) is a large, cosmopolitan family of predatory insects, including the assassin bugs (genera include Melanolestes, Platymeris, Pselliopus, Rasahus, Reduvius, Rhiginia, Sinea, Triatoma, and Zelus), wheel bugs (Arilus cristatus) and thread-legged bugs (the subfamily Emesinae, including the genus Emesaya). There are about 7,000 species altogether, making it one of the largest families in the Hemiptera.

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Main WikiProject:

WikiProject Insects

Related projects:

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

Daughter projects:

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.
Infobox : Add or update a {{Taxobox}}: Add more information like species authors or create a completely new taxobox for an entomology article that needs one.
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