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...)

Selected article -

Myrmecia inquilina is a species of ant endemic to Australia in the subfamily Myrmeciinae, first discovered in 1955 and described by Athol Douglas and William Brown Jr. in 1959. These ants are large, measuring 21.4 millimetres (0.84 in). During the time of its discovery, Douglas and Brown announced M. inquilina as the first social parasite among the primitive subfamilies, and today it is one of the two known Myrmecia species to have no worker caste. Two host species are known, Myrmecia nigriceps and Myrmecia vindex. Aggression between M. inquilina and its host species does not occur, and colonies may only produce M. inquilina brood months after the inquiline queens begin to lay their eggs. Queens eat the colony brood or trophic eggs, and other Myrmecia species may kill M. inquilina queens if they reject them. Due to its restricted distribution and threats to its habitat, the ant is "vulnerable" according to the IUCN Red List. (Full article...)

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Did you know -

... that Clouded Magpie moths resemble bird droppings while they are resting on the upper surface of leaves?
... that the caterpillars of the moth Mompha raschkiella cause a yellowish blotch on the leaves of Rosebay Willowherb that bleach rapidly after the caterpillars leave them?
... that the scientific name of the peacock carpenter bee (Xylocopa bombylans) means "bumblebee-like wood-cutter"?
... that the mayfly Rhithrogena germanica can emerge from a river, moult and fly off in 30 seconds?
... that the first entomological article written by a New World native concerned the "Great Black Waſp"?

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General images -

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

Image 1Direct flight: muscles attached to wings. Large insects only (from Insect flight)
Image 2Closeup of a fire ant, showing fine sensory hairs on antennae (from Insect morphology)
Image 3Scanning electron micrograph of a cricket spiracle valve (from Respiratory system of insects)
Image 4Generalized arthropod biramous limb. Trueman proposed that an endite and an exite fused to form a wing. (from Insect flight)
Image 5The 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 6Reconstruction of a Carboniferous insect, the palaeodictyopteran Mazothairos (from Insect flight)
Image 7A pie chart of described eukaryote species, showing just over half of these to be insects (from Insect biodiversity)
Image 8
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 9Hoverfly (Philhelius pedissequum) has indirect flight musculature. (from Insect flight)
Image 10Larva of beetle, family Cerambycidae, showing sclerotised epicranium; rest of body hardly sclerotised (from Insect morphology)
Image 11Evolution has produced astonishing variety of appendages in insects, such as these antennae. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 12The abdominal terminus of male scorpionflies is enlarged into a "genital bulb", as seen in Panorpa communis (from Insect morphology)
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 14Venation of insect wings, based on the Comstock-Needham system (from Insect morphology)
Image 15Larva of Syrphid fly, member of Cyclorrhapha, without epicranium, almost without sclerotisation apart from its jaws. (from Insect morphology)
Image 16Male genitalia of Lepidoptera (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 17Indian moon moth (Actias selene) with some of the spiracles identified (from Respiratory system of insects)
Image 18Queen Alexandra's birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) of Papua New Guinea (from Insect biodiversity)
Image 19Bumblebee defecating. Note the contraction of the anus, which provides internal pressure. (from Insect morphology)
Image 20Stylized diagram of insect digestive tract showing malpighian tubule, from an insect of the order Orthoptera. (from Insect morphology)
Image 21Frenulo-retinacular wing coupling in male and female moths (from Insect flight)
Image 22Mayfly nymph with paired abdominal gills (from Insect flight)
Image 23Variety of male structures in Phlebotominae (Diptera, Psychodidae) (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 24A tau emerald (Hemicordulia tau) dragonfly has flight muscles attached directly to its wings. (from Insect flight)
Image 25Mazothairos, a Carboniferous member of the now extinct order Palaeodictyoptera. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 26Reconstruction of Strudiella devonica as a possible hexapod (from Evolution of insects)
Image 27Head 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 28The Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) have direct flight musculature. (from Insect flight)
Image 29Diagram of a typical insect leg (from Insect morphology)
Image 30Fossil gnat in amber, a well-preserved insect fossil. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 31The female genitalia of Lepidoptera (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 32Cross-section of wing vein (from Insect morphology)

Selected image -

Mayflies (subimago of Rhithrogena germanica pictured) comprise around 2,500 species of insects which belong to the Order Ephemeroptera. They are aquatic insects whose immature stage usually lasts one year in fresh water, while the adults are short-lived, surviving from a few minutes to a few days.

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WikiProjects

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.
Photo : Many entomology–related articles would be substantially better with the addition of one or more photographs. Feel free to take your own and upload them, or find ones with the appropriate licenses and upload them here.

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