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Basic Facts About Insects
An insect is an arthropod characterized by having, in its mature state, six legs and three main body parts including the head, thorax and abdomen. Like all arthropods, an insect's skeleton, called the exoskeleton, is on the outside of its body. Many, but not all, insects also have antennae and wings. The head contains the brain, eyes, mouth and antennae. The thorax supports the legs and wings. The abdomen contains an insect's reproductive organs, breathing, digestion and circulation organs.
Classifying Types of Insects
The Phylum Arthropoda is divided into five subphyla, and insects belong to the subphyla called Hexapods. Hexapods are divided into two further categories: Apterygota, which are primitive wingless insects, and Pterygota, which are winged and secondary wingless insects. Pterygota are divided into two groups based on their type of metamorphosis, Exopterygota and Endopterygota. Exopterygotas have incomplete metamorphosis with three stages, including egg, nymph and adult. Endopterygota have complete metamorphosis including the four stages of egg, larvae, pupae and adult. There are 32 orders of insects and 125 families.
Insect Habitats
Insects live almost everywhere on the planet, including the Arctic and Antarctica during their warmer months. Some even live on the surface of the sea, and a few types of flies and beetles live beneath fresh water surfaces. Some insects live in extreme environments, such as the Psilopa petrolei -- its larva live in crude oil pools in California; Scatella thermarum, which live in hot springs in Iceland, and the larva of Ephydra hians, which live in the extremely salty water of Mono Lake in California.
Insect World Records
Some of the biggest-sized insects are Acteon beetles, which measure up to 9 cm long by 6 cm wide and 4 cm thick, and the Stick insect, which can grow up to 36 cm in length. Megaphragma caribea is the smallest-known insect species, measuring only 0.17 mm long. The insect Austrophlebia costalis has been recorded to fly up to 98 mph. The aphid Rhopalosiphum prunifolia has the shortest-known generation time of 4.7 days. The eggs of Zenillia pullata are some of the smallest, measuring between 0.027 by 0.02mm.