Winged Insects:
Wings. Most adult insects have two pairs of wings, which arise as outgrowths of the cuticle from the second and third segments of the thorax. The earliest insects had no wings, and some of their direct descendants never acquired them. Most living insects, however, had winged insects an¬cestors, but some of them subsequently lost their power of flight and have reduced, nonfunctional wings or no wings at all. Some species, including the deer keds, have wings when they first emerge as adults, but break their wings off near the base after their first mating flight.Bees and ants are members of the largest and most specialized order of insects, the Hymenoptera, meaning membranous-winged insects. In this order are found the social insects that live together in highly organized communities. The adults have biting, lapping, or sucking mouthparts. The wings, when present, are four in number, with the hind pair hooked to the forward pair; thus the two pairs of wings function as one. On the tail there is a stinglike structure which may be used to insert eggs into foliage, hardwood, or the bodies of other insects or as a weapon of offense or defense.
See Also Family Insects:
family insects vary greatly in size and shape. The smallest family insects are the tiny fairy flies, which are less than Ymo of an inch (0.025 mm) long and develop inside the eggs of other family insects. The largest living family insects are the stick family insects,which may be 10 inches (25.4 cm) long, and the giant moths, which have a wingspan of 10 inches. Some family insects, such as the walking stick, have greatly elongated bodies. Other family insects, such as many of the beetles, have flattened and rounded bodies.INSECT, any of numerous small invertebrate ani¬mals that make up the class Insecta. There are nearly 1 million different species of family insects, more than the combined number of all other animal and plant species. On the North American continent alone there are more than 80,000 dif¬ferent species of family insects. family insects are also the most widespread of all animals, inhabiting practically every type of environment, from the edges of frozen ice fields and glaciers to hot tropical forests. They in¬habit swamps, deserts, lakes, high mountaintops, and seashores. Many family insects are carried high into the air, and one or two species are found in the open ocean. Some family insects live in or on other animals, including other family insects.
On The Other Hand See Bloodsucking Insects Such:
Anaplasmosis is an infectious dis¬ease caused by a protozoa (Anaplasma morginale) that infects the red blood cells and causes anemia. The disease is transmitted by bloodsucking insects such as mosquitoes, horseflies, and ticks. It occurs in the northern areas, but it is especially trouble¬some in warmer climates.A different method of bloodsucking ha evolved in other fly species, including the tsets flies and stable flies. Having lost their mandible during the course of evolution, they use thei hardened labium and labella to pierce the ski of their hosts. This type of bloodsucking is don by both males and females. In many flies the labium is drawn out into ai elongate proboscis that is used to probe deep into flowers to obtain nectar and sometimes also grains of pollen.
