Insects are hexapod arthropods, therefore, their body is divided into head, thorax and abdomen. In addition, they all have six legs and two pairs of wings that emerge from the thorax. However, as we will see later, these appendages vary in each group. In fact, together with the antennae and the mouthpiece, they allow you to easily differentiate the different types of insects that exist.
This group of animals is the most diverse and contains around a million species. However, it is thought that most have not even been discovered yet. Do you want to know them more in depth? In this article on our site we give you the keys to differentiate between the different types of insects, with their characteristics and names.
Classification of insects
Due to their enormous diversity, the classification of insects includes a large number of groups. For this reason, we are going to focus on the most well-known and abundant types of insects. These are the following commands:
- Odonatos
- Orthoptera
- Isoptera
- Hemiptera
- Lepidoptera
- Coleoptera
- Diptera
- Hymenoptera
Odonatos (Order Odonata)
Odonates are one of the most beautiful insects in the world. This group includes more than 3,500 species that are distributed throughout the world. They are the dragonflies (infraorder Anisoptera) and the damselflies (suborder Zygoptera), predatory insects with aquatic nymphs (young).
Odonata have two pairs of membranous wings and non-locomotor legs that are used to catch prey and hold on to the substrate, but not to walk. Their eyes are compound and appear separated in the seahorses and very close together in the dragonflies. This character allows to differentiate them.
Examples of odonate insects
Some types of insects belonging to this group are:
- Blue damselfly (Calopterix virgo)
- Emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator)
- Tiger dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltoni)
Orthoptera (Order Orthoptera)
This group is that of the grasshoppers and crickets, which number more than 20,000 species. Although they are found almost everywhere in the world, they enjoy warm areas and seasons. In them, both the young and the adults feed on plants. They are ametabolous animals that do not undergo metamorphosis, although they do shed.
We can easily differentiate these types of animals because their forewings are partially hardened (tegminae) and their hind legs are large and strong, perfectly adapted to jumping. Normally, they have green or brown colors that help them camouflage themselves in the environment that surrounds them and hide from the large number of predators that lie in wait for them.
Examples of orthoptera insects
Some examples of grasshoppers and crickets are:
- Common Green Grasshopper (Tettigoria viridissima)
- Pink Grasshopper (Euconocephalus thunbergii)
- Mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa)
Termites (Order Isoptera)
The group of termites includes about 2 500 species, all very abundant. Normally, these types of insects feed on wood, although they can eat other plant substances. They inhabit large termite mounds that build on wood or the ground and have the most complex caste systems known.
Their anatomy depends on the different castes. However, they all have large antennae, locomotory legs, and an abdomen segmented into 11 parts. As for the wings, they only appear on the primary spawners. The rest of the castes are wingless insects.
Examples of termites
Some species of termites are:
- Dampwood Termite (Kalotermes flavicollis)
- Canarian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis)
Hemiptera (Order Hemiptera)
These types of insects refer to the bugs (suborder Heteroptera) and the aphids, scale insects and cicadas (Homoptera). In total, there are more than 80,000 species, making it a very diverse group that includes aquatic insects, phytophagous predators, and even blood-sucking parasites.
Bed bugs have hemielytra, that is, their forewings are hard at the base and membranous at the apex. Homoptera, however, have all of their wings membranous. Most have well-developed antennae and biting-sucking mouthparts.
Examples of hemiptera insects
Within this large group we can find species such as the following:
- Beaked bug (Triatoma infestans)
- Black aphid (Aphis fabae)
- Cicada orni
- Shield bug (Carpocoris fuscispinus)
Lepidoptera (Order Lepidoptera)
The Lepidoptera group includes more than 165,000 species of butterflies and moths. It is one of the most diverse and abundant types of insects. The adults feed on nectar and are pollinators, while the larvae (caterpillars) are herbivores.
Among their characteristics, their complex metamorphosis stands out (they are holometabolous), their membranous wings covered with scales and their spirit trunk. This is a very elongated sucking mouthpart that they keep coiled up when they are not feeding.
Examples of Lepidoptera insects
Some species of butterflies and moths are:
- Atlas butterfly (Attacus atlas)
- Emperor butterfly (Thysania agrippina)
- Skull sphinx moth (Acherontia atropos)
Beetles (Order Coleoptera)
Coleoptera or beetles are the most diverse and abundant order of insects. There are an estimated 370,000 known species! Among them, there are insects as diverse as the flying deer (Lucanus cervus) or ladybugs (Coccinellidae).
The main characteristic of this type of insect is that its forewings are completely sclerotized and are called elytra. These cover and protect the second pair of wings, which are membranous and serve to fly. In addition, the elytra are essential to control flight.
Diptera (Order Diptera)
They are the flies, mosquitoes and horseflies, which bring together more than 122,000 species distributed throughout the world. These insects undergo metamorphosis during their life cycle and the adults feed on liquids (nectar, blood, etc.), so they have a licking-sucking mouthpart.
Its main characteristic is the transformation of its hind wings into structures known as rocker arms. The forewings are membranous and flap to fly, while the rocker arms allow them to maintain balance and control flight.
Examples of Diptera Insects
Some examples of insects belonging to this group are:
- Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopicus)
- Tsetse fly (genus Glossina)
Hymenoptera (Order Hymenoptera)
Hymenoptera are the ants, wasps, bees and symphytes. It is the second largest insect group, with 200,000 described species. Many species are social and organized into castes. Others are solitary and often parasitoid.
Except in the symphytus, the first segment of the abdomen is attached to the thorax, which allows them great mobility. As for its mouthparts, it is chewing in predators, such as wasps, or licking-sucking in those that feed on nectar, such as different types of bees. All these types of insects have powerful wing muscles and a highly developed glandular system that allows them to communicate with high efficiency.
Examples of hymenopteran insects
Some species found in this large group of insects are:
- Asian bee (Vespa velutina)
- Potter wasps (Eumeninae)
- Pollen Wasps (Masarinae)
Types of wingless insects
At the beginning of the article we said that all insects have two pairs of wings, however, as we have seen, in many types of insects these structures have been transformed giving rise to other organs, such as elytra or rocker arms.
There are also wingless insects, that is, they don't have wings. It is the result of its evolutionary process. This is because both the wings and the structures necessary for their movement (wing muscles or hydraulic systems) require a lot of energy. Therefore, when they are not needed, they tend to disappear, allowing this energy to be used for other purposes.
Examples of wingless insects
The best-known wingless insects are most ants and termites, in which wings only appear on reproductive individuals that They leave to form new colonies. In this case, the determinant of whether or not wings appear is the food that is supplied to the larvae: it is about epigenetics. That is, the genes that code for the appearance of wings are present in their genome but, depending on the type of feeding during development, their expression is suppressed or activated.
Some species of Hemiptera and Coleoptera have their wings transformed and permanently attached to their body, so they cannot fly. Other types of insects, such as the order Zygentoma, are wingless and are true wingless insects. An example is the moisture bugs or silverfish (Lepisma saccharina).
Other types of insects
As we said before, there are so many types of insects that it is very difficult to name them all. However, in this section we give you details about other less abundant or more unknown groups:
- Dermaptera. They are earwigs, insects that live in humid areas and have appendages (cerci) like pincers at the end of the abdomen.
- Zygentoma. They are wingless, flattened and elongated insects that flee from light and dryness. They are known as “moisture bugs” and among them are the little silver fish.
- Blattodea. These are cockroaches, insects with long antennae and partially hardened wings that are better developed in males. Both have cerci at the end of the abdomen.
- Mantodea. Mantids are animals perfectly adapted to predation. Their front legs are specialized in kidnapping prey and have a great ability to blend in with their surroundings.
- Phthiraptera. It's about lice, a group that includes more than 5,000 species. They are all hematophagous external parasites.
- Neuroptera. It includes several types of insects, such as ant lions or lacewings. They have membranous wings and most are predators.
- Shiphonaptera. They are the dreaded fleas, hematophagous external parasites. Its mouthparts are biting-sucking and its hind legs are highly developed for jumping.
- Trichoptera. The group of friganos is very unknown, although it includes more than 7,000 species. They have membranous wings and their legs are very long, like those of a mosquito. They stand out for the construction of “cases” for the protection of their larvae.
