Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The development of insect mouthparts from the primitive chewing mouthparts of a grasshopper in the centre (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; hp hypopharynx.
The salivary glands (element 30 in numbered diagram) in an insect's mouth produce saliva. The salivary ducts lead from the glands to the reservoirs and then forward through the head to an opening called the salivarium, located behind the hypopharynx. By moving its mouthparts (element 32 in numbered diagram) the insect can mix its food with saliva.
Modifications of the labrum (in red) in assorted insects. (A) grasshopper, (B) honey bee, (C) butterfly (D) mosquito. Bembix rostrata female using its labrum in sucking the blood out of a fly. The labrum is a flap-like structure that lies immediately in front of the mouth in almost all extant Euarthropoda.
This section provides an overview of the individual mouthparts of chewing insects. The diversification of insects' food sources led to the evolution of their mouthparts. This process was facilitated by natural selection. [1] Figure 1: Chewing mouthparts of a grasshopper. Legend: lr, labrum; md, mandibles; mx, maxillae; hp hypopharynx; lb, labium.
The mosquito larva's head has prominent mouth brushes used for feeding, a large thorax with no legs, and a segmented abdomen. It breathes air through a siphon on its abdomen, so must come to the surface frequently. It spends most of its time feeding on algae, bacteria, and other microbes in the water's surface layer. It dives below the surface ...
Insect mandibles are a pair of appendages near the insect's mouth, and the most anterior of the three pairs of oral appendages (the labrum is more anterior, but is a single fused structure). Their function is typically to grasp, crush, or cut the insect's food, or to defend against predators or rivals.
labellum, showing pseudotracheae;; labium,; maxillary palp,; labrum;; subgenal area; clypeus;; fronto-orbital area; fronto-orbital bristles; outer vertical bristle ...
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 ...