INSECTS

ARTHROPODS Insects are a class of living creatures within the phylum arthropoda. Arthropods means ‘jointed foot’. However, it is all their appendages that are jointed.

EXOSKELETONS Their skeletons are composed of a material called chitin, with is strong but very flexible. It is similar to the cartilage in humans.

The exoskeleton, although flexible is hard enough that they must undergo molting or shedding of the exoskeleton as they grow larger. Before molting, the body will secret a new, softer/wrinkled exoskeleton under the old one. The insect will then secret enzymes which dissolve/weaken the old skeleton so that the animal can break it open and wriggle out. The new skeleton will quickly expand and harden.

BODY LAYOUT They also have a 3 part body (head, thorax, and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae.

COMPOUND EYES

Although their bodies are segmented, some segments can be fused or attached at regions, such as at the head, thorax or abdomen. Trilobites, which is not an extinct arthropod, had a pair of appendages on each body segment.

In modern arthropods, each appendage has a special job, such as walking, swimming, reproducing, eating and sensing the environment around them. With these different appendages many arthropods can live in different environments, making them much more diverse.

They are among the most diverse groups of animals on the planet, including more than a million described species and representing more than half of all known living organisms.

NERVOUS SYSTEM Arthropods have a well developed nervous system that includes a brain and spinal cord. Their spinal cords are along the front of the animal (ventral), where as a human will have a spinal cord along their back (dorsal).

Their heads will have many different sensory organs, including their antennae for feeling, and sometimes 2 types of eyes. Some insects have compound eyes, which are composed of many complete visual units (or smaller eyes) which each operate independently of each other. Insects tend to focus on light rather than individual images. This does not create a very clear images but allows them to pick up movement much better than human eyes.

MANITOBA INSECTS Mosquito: The mosquitoes are a family of small insects. Although a few species are harmless or even useful to humanity (food for beneficial bugs), most are a nuisance because they suck blood from vertebrates, many of them attacking humans. In feeding on blood various species of mosquitoes transmit some of the most harmful human and livestock diseases. Some authorities argue accordingly that mosquitoes are the most dangerous animals on earth.

MANITOBA INSECTS Colorado Potato Beetles (aka Spud Bug) Has 10 stripes along it’s body. Pest of potato crop. It can easily be confused with its close cousin and look-alike, the false potato beetle.

MANITOBA INSECTS Giant Water Bug Can be known as toe-biters, electric-light bugs and Alligator Ticks or Fleas. They are the largest insects in the order Hemiptera (beetles), and occur worldwide. They are typically encountered in freshwater streams and ponds. Most species are relatively large (2 cm or more) with some of the largest, such as Lethocerus, exceeding 12 cm. Giant water bugs are a popular food in Thailand.

MANITOBA INSECTS Parasitic Wasp Will inject it’s eggs into a lady bug or caterpillar. When the eggs hatch they eat their way out of the lady bug or caterpillar providing food for the larvae.