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The insect body is divided into three parts: the head, thorax, and abdomen. [2] The head is specialized for sensory input and food intake; the thorax, which is the anchor point for the legs and wings (if present), is specialized for locomotion; and the abdomen is for digestion , respiration , excretion , and reproduction.
Like all insects, wasps have a hard exoskeleton which protects their three main body parts, the head, the mesosoma (including the thorax and the first segment of the abdomen) and the metasoma. There is a narrow waist, the petiole , joining the first and second segments of the abdomen.
Chalcidoid wasps are small wasps (most within the range 0.5–5 mm). However the group does include the smallest known insect (Dicopomorpha echmepterygis males have a body length of 0.14–0.24 mm); the largest chalcidoids include Leucospis gigas with a body length of up to 21 mm [2] and Doddifoenus wallacei with a body length of up to 19.6 mm. [3]
The main function of insect blood, hemolymph, is that of transport and it bathes the insect's body organs. Making up usually less than 25% of an insect's body weight, it transports hormones, nutrients and wastes and has a role in osmoregulation, temperature control, immunity, storage (water, carbohydrates and fats) and skeletal function.
Many insects can hear, using tympanal organs, which may be on the legs or other parts of the body. Their sense of smell is via receptors, usually on the antennae and the mouthparts. Nearly all insects hatch from eggs. Insect growth is constrained by the inelastic exoskeleton, so development involves a series of molts. The immature stages often ...
Face of a southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa)Yellowjackets may be confused with other wasps, such as hornets and paper wasps such as Polistes dominula.A typical yellowjacket worker is about 12 mm (0.47 in) long, with alternating bands on the abdomen; the queen is larger, about 19 mm (0.75 in) long (the different patterns on their abdomens help separate various species).
In some insect pupae, like the mosquitoes', the head and thorax can be fused in a cephalothorax. Members of suborder Apocrita (wasps, ants and bees) in the order Hymenoptera have the first segment of the abdomen fused with the thorax, which is called the propodeum .
The mesosoma is the middle part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the metasoma. It bears the legs , and, in the case of winged insects , the wings .