Portal:Insects

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Insects Portal

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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

A social wasp, Vespula germanica

A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.

The most commonly known wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, are in the family Vespidae and are eusocial, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers. Eusociality is favoured by the unusual haplodiploid system of sex determination in Hymenoptera, as it makes sisters exceptionally closely related to each other. However, the majority of wasp species are solitary, with each adult female living and breeding independently. Females typically have an ovipositor for laying eggs in or near a food source for the larvae, though in the Aculeata the ovipositor is often modified instead into a sting used for defense or prey capture. Wasps play many ecological roles. Some are predators or pollinators, whether to feed themselves or to provision their nests. Many, notably the cuckoo wasps, are kleptoparasites, laying eggs in the nests of other wasps. Many of the solitary wasps are parasitoidal, meaning they lay eggs on or in other insects (any life stage from egg to adult) and often provision their own nests with such hosts. Unlike true parasites, the wasp larvae eventually kill their hosts. Solitary wasps parasitize almost every pest insect, making wasps valuable in horticulture for biological pest control of species such as whitefly in tomatoes and other crops. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know - load new batch

... 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"?

List articles

More list articles

Related portals

General images - load new batch

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

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

Selected image - show another

Credit: Fir0002

Gryllotalpa brachyptera is a mole cricket (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae), native to Australia. Mole crickets are thick-bodied insects about 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long, with large beady eyes and shovel-like forelimbs highly developed for burrowing and swimming. The adult mole cricket may fly as far as 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) during the mating season, is active most of the year, and spends the winter in hibernation.

More selected pictures • Read more

Topics

Subcategories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

By classification

WikiProjects

Main WikiProject:

WikiProject Insects

Related projects:

Daughter projects:

WikiProject Lepidoptera

Tasks

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

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.