Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Typically the mandibles are the largest and most robust mouthparts of a chewing insect, and it uses them to masticate (cut, tear, crush, chew) food items. Two sets of muscles move the mandibles in the coronal plane of the mouth: abductor muscles move insects' mandibles apart ( laterally ); adductor muscles bring them together ( medially ).
The mouthparts of orthopteran insects are often used as a basic example of mandibulate (chewing) mouthparts, and the mandibles themselves are likewise generalized in structure. They are large and hardened, shaped like pinchers, with cutting surfaces on the distal portion and chewing or grinding surfaces basally .
A few Lepidoptera species have reduced mouthparts and do not feed in the adult state. Others, such as the basal family Micropterigidae, have chewing mouthparts. [21] The proboscis (plural – proboscises) is formed from maxillary galeae and is adapted for sucking nectar. [3] It consists of two tubes held together by hooks and separable for ...
Mandibulate mouthparts, among the most common in insects, are used for biting and grinding solid foods. Piercing-sucking mouthparts have stylets and are used to penetrate solid tissue and then suck up liquid food. Sponging mouthparts are used to sponge and suck liquids, and lack stylets (e.g. most Diptera).
Housefly mouthparts, showing the pseudotracheae, semitubular grooves (dark parallel bands) used for sucking up liquid food The mouthparts are specially adapted for a liquid diet; the mandibles and maxillae are reduced and not functional, and the other mouthparts form a retractable, flexible proboscis with an enlarged, fleshy tip, the labellum.
An insect uses its digestive system to extract nutrients and other substances from the food it consumes. [3]Most of this food is ingested in the form of macromolecules and other complex substances (such as proteins, polysaccharides, fats, and nucleic acids) which must be broken down by catabolic reactions into smaller molecules (i.e. amino acids, simple sugars, etc.) before being used by cells ...
Glossina adult tsetse fly; piercing mouthparts conspicuous. There is one genus in this Family: Glossina, known as tsetse-flies or simply tsetse. [38] Flies of this family are similar to Stomoxys flies within the Muscidae, but have a life cycle and veterinary and medical importance justifying a separate Family designation. Tsetse-flies are found ...
Adult horse-flies feed on nectar and plant exudates; males have weak mouthparts, but females have mouthparts strong enough to bite large animals. This is for the purpose of obtaining enough protein from blood to produce eggs. The mouthparts of females are formed into a stout stabbing organ with two pairs of sharp cutting blades, and a ...