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Insect mouthparts show a multitude of different functional mechanisms across the wide diversity of insect species. It is common for significant homology to be conserved, with matching structures forming from matching primordia , and having the same evolutionary origin.
Insects, like all arthropods, have no interior skeleton; instead, they have an exoskeleton, a hard outer layer made mostly of chitin that protects and supports the body. . The insect body is divided into three parts: the head, thorax, and abdomen
This section provides an overview of the individual mouthparts of chewing insects. The diversification of insects' food sources led to the evolution of their mouthparts. This process was facilitated by natural selection. [1] Figure 1: Chewing mouthparts of a grasshopper. Legend: lr, labrum; md, mandibles; mx, maxillae; hp hypopharynx; lb, labium.
Scales also cover the head, parts of the thorax and abdomen as well as parts of the genitalia. The morphology of scales has been studied by J. C. Downey and A. C. Allyn (1975) [38] and scales have been classified into three groups, namely hair-like, or piliform, blade-like, or lamellar and other variable forms. [8]
An insect uses its digestive system to extract nutrients and other substances from the food it consumes. [3]Most of this food is ingested in the form of macromolecules and other complex substances (such as proteins, polysaccharides, fats, and nucleic acids) which must be broken down by catabolic reactions into smaller molecules (i.e. amino acids, simple sugars, etc.) before being used by cells ...
The labrum is a flap-like structure that lies immediately in front of the mouth in almost all extant Euarthropoda. The most conspicuous exceptions are the Pycnogonida, which are probably chelicerates. In entomology, the labrum amounts to the "upper lip" of an insect mouth, the corresponding "lower lip" being the labium.
Traditional morphology-based or appearance-based systematics has usually given Hexapoda the rank of superclass, [70] and identified four groups within it: insects (Ectognatha), springtails , Protura and Diplura, the latter three being grouped together as Entognatha on the basis of internalized mouth parts. Supraordinal relationships have ...
The development of insect mouthparts from the primitive chewing mouthparts of a grasshopper in the centre (A), to the lapping type (B) and the siphoning type (C). Legend: a - antennae c - compound eye lb -labium lr - labrum md - mandibles mx - maxillae. The insect mouthparts consist of the maxilla, labium, and in some species the mandibles.