The Insect Body Flashcards
(26 cards)
What are the members of Arthropoda
Insects, crustaceans, arachnids (spiders, scorpions, mites …)
What type of skeleton do arthropods have
An exoskeleton of hard, chitin-containing shell divides into plates joined together by thin membranes
How is the insect’s nervous system different than ours
The nerve cord runs along the lower part of the insect (ventral side)
Describe the insects circulatory system
A simple pipe which has a part that pumps blood into the body cavity where it bathed the internal organs and facilitates exchange
The blood is nearly always greenish and lack hemoglobin
how do insects breath
they take in air through numerous holes along the abdomen and thorax called spiracles or stigmata
theses open into a tubular respiratory system that branches throughout the body
also connected to several air sacs which pump air as a result of the body moving
where are some of the insects sense organs located
the hearing organ is sometimes on the upper leg
smell and taste in the feet, lower leg, and antennae, eyes may be on the neck
how many legs do insects have
6
what are the segments of an insects body
the head, thorax, and abdomen
how might insects have evolved
from a millipede like ancestor, that, over time, had segments combine and modify into the 3 segments along with mouth parts, wings, and other body parts
describe the insect wing
outgrowths of the body wall found in some insects that permit flight
highly variable
operated by wing musculature in the thorax
what is venation
the course and arrangement of veins in the wings of an insect
used to identify insects frequently
describe insect legs
a slender and rigid appendage specially adapted to jumping, climbing, swimming, clinging, seizing prey, digging, spinning, or whatever else is needed by the insect
subdivided
what are the divisions of the insect leg
a coxa, a trochanter, a femur, a trivia, and a tarsus (further subdivided)
what is often found on the insect leg
sensory organs along with refined mechanisms for cleaning the body, gathering food, injecting fluid, or applying suction
what is a pulvillus
an adhesive lobe that lies beneath the claws of the tarsus and serves the clinging to smooth surfaces
describe the feelers or antennae of an insect
appendages that are covered in tens of thousands of sensors hairs and pits to detect various stimulus
what type of eyes do insects have
compound eyes that are globular and have a honeycomb like structure, each honeycomb is the upper cuticle of an individual organ of sight, a long slender cylinder that narrows as it goes inwards
what is just beneath the cuticular cornea
a lens, a long crystalline cone which at the lower end of which les a rod-shaped bundle of 7-14 retinal cells connected to an optic nerve fiber
what are the secondary eyes some insects have
little frontal eyes or dorsal ocelli that lie between the compound eyes
usually 3
made of a curving cornea, lens, iris, a vitreous body, a retina, and darkly pigmented wall
perceive light but not images
what does an insect see
a non reversed mosaic of the light falling on each facet of the eye, the more there are the clearer and sharper the picture each
no idea how the brain interprets the image
what colours do insects see
ultra violet, blue, yellow, and blue green
what kind of light can insects see but we cannot
polarized light, which is produced when sunlight passes through the atmosphere
how do insects navigate
the sky (polarized Light gives the sky a non-uniform appearance)
and the sun mainly
what are insect instruments
the endless variation of the insects’ mouth and mouthparts allows them to feed and accomplish whatever other ambitions they might have
highly refined instruments in the abdomen allow insects to sting and lay eggs
