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

Western honey bee on the bars of a horizontal top-bar hive

A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus Apis of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosmopolitan distribution of honey bees, introducing multiple subspecies into South America (early 16th century), North America (early 17th century), and Australia (early 19th century).

Honey bees are known for their construction of perennial colonial nests from wax, the large size of their colonies, and surplus production and storage of honey, distinguishing their hives as a prized foraging target of many animals, including honey badgers, bears and human hunter-gatherers. Only 8 surviving species of honey bee are recognized, with a total of 43 subspecies, though historically 7 to 11 species are recognized. Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the roughly 20,000 known species of bees. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know - load new batch

... that Euprenolepis procera is the first ant discovered that harvests and feeds on mushrooms?
.. that Milton Levine founded Uncle Milton's Toys, best known for its ant farm, with ants from the species Pogonomyrmex californicus?
... that Acromis spinifex is one of the few tortoise beetles that shows maternal care of its young?
... that the population density of Moroccan locust nymphs can reach several thousand individuals per square metre (11 sq ft)?
... that picnic beetles are attracted to beer?

List articles

More list articles

Related portals

General images - load new batch

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

Image 1Diagram of a typical insect leg (from Insect morphology)
Image 2Larva of Syrphid fly, member of Cyclorrhapha, without epicranium, almost without sclerotisation apart from its jaws. (from Insect morphology)
Image 3The Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) have direct flight musculature, as do mayflies. (from Insect flight)
Image 4
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 5Fossil gnat in amber, a well-preserved insect fossil. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 6Larva of beetle, family Cerambycidae, showing sclerotised epicranium; rest of body hardly sclerotised (from Insect morphology)
Image 7Generalized arthropod biramous limb. Trueman proposed that an endite and an exite fused to form a wing. (from Insect flight)
Image 8Bumblebee defecating. Note the contraction of the anus, which provides internal pressure. (from Insect morphology)
Image 9Head 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 10Cross-section of wing vein (from Insect morphology)
Image 11A pie chart of described eukaryote species, showing just over half of these to be insects (from Insect biodiversity)
Image 12Frenulo-retinacular wing coupling in male and female moths (from Insect flight)
Image 13Reconstruction Strudiella devonica as a possible hexapod (from Evolution of insects)
Image 14Indian moon moth (Actias selene) with some of the spiracles identified (from Respiratory system of insects)
Image 15Closeup of a fire ant, showing fine sensory hairs on antennae (from Insect morphology)
Image 16The 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 17Mazothairos, a Carboniferous member of the now extinct order Palaeodictyoptera. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 18Evolution has produced astonishing variety of appendages in insects, such as these antennae. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 19Mandibles of Rhyniognatha hirsti, it may be an oldest insect, but also possible to be a myriapod. (from Evolution of insects)
Image 20A tau emerald (Hemicordulia tau) dragonfly has flight muscles attached directly to its wings. (from Insect flight)
Image 21Stylized diagram of insect digestive tract showing malpighian tubule, from an insect of the order Orthoptera. (from Insect morphology)
Image 22Scanning electron micrograph of a cricket spiracle valve (from Respiratory system of insects)
Image 23Mayfly nymph with paired abdominal gills (from Insect flight)
Image 24Venation of insect wings, based on the Comstock-Needham system (from Insect morphology)
Image 25Variety of male structures in Phlebotominae (Diptera, Psychodidae) (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 26The abdominal terminus of male scorpionflies is enlarged into a "genital bulb", as seen in Panorpa communis (from Insect morphology)
Image 27The female genitalia of Lepidoptera (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 28Queen Alexandra's birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) of Papua New Guinea (from Insect biodiversity)
Image 29Hoverfly (Philhelius pedissequum) has indirect flight musculature. (from Insect flight)
Image 30Direct flight: muscles attached to wings. Large insects only (from Insect flight)
Image 31Male genitalia of Lepidoptera (from Insect reproductive system)
Image 32Reconstruction of a Carboniferous insect, the palaeodictyopteran Mazothairos (from Insect flight)

Selected image - show another

Credit: Noodle snacks

Abantiades latipennis (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) is one of fourteen species in the Australian genus Abantiades. It thrives in regrowth forests that were previously clearfelled; the phytophagous larvae of A. latipennis feed primarily on the root systems of two species of tree, Eucalyptus obliqua (messmate stringybark) and Eucalyptus regnans (mountain ash).

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.