34 Insect Questions
1. Are centipedes insects?
Centipedes are NOT insects. All insects have only three body segments while centipedes have many more body segments.
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2. Are spiders insects?
No, spiders are not insects. Spiders have only two body segments and all insects must have 3 body segments.
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3. What makes an insect an insect?
All insects have four things in common. Without these things an animal cannot be classified as an insect. All insects have: - A three segmented body made up of a head, a thorax and an abdomen. - Six leg that have joints - Two antennae that are used to sense the world - An exoskeleton (A hard shell that is on the outside of the body) These four things are necessary for an animal to have an insect classification.
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4. What percentage of the animal species on the Earth are insects?
Ninety-five percent of the Earth's animal species are insects.
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5. What is the world's largest insect?
The world's bulkiest insect is the Aceteaeom Beetle from South America. This guy can get 9 cm long, 5 cm wide and 4 cm thick!
The largest insect by overall size is the South American Longhorn Beetle (Titanus giganteus). It can reach 16 cm in body length not including the antennae!
The longest insect in the world is the Stick Insect (Pharnacia serritypes). It can measure over 36 cm long!
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6. What do mosquito larvae look like?
Mosquito larvae look like small worms that wiggle in the water. They are even referred to as mosquito wigglers. The wigglers have small holes near the rear of their body that they use to breathe through. For this reason the wigglers will often be found near the surface of the water.
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7. How long do mosquitos live?
Life span varies from species to species and is affected by environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and season. The average adult male lives about a week and the average adult female lives about four to five weeks.
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8. Are daddy long legs a type of spider?
Although they resemble spiders, daddy long-legs, more correctly called harvestmen, are neither spiders nor insects. Taxonomically, they are arthropods, in the same class as spiders, Arachnida, but in a different order, Phalangida. Anatomically daddy long-legs differ from spiders because their three body segments -- head, thorax and abdomen, are joined as one compact body segment. Spiders have two body segments -- the head and thorax are joined as the cephalothorax, and the abdomen is the second body segment. Insects, which are taxonomically in the class Insecta, have three distinct body segments.
Credit: Keith Pardee
9. How many legs does a centipede have?
Centipedes, which are members of the class Chilopoda, always have an uneven number of pairs of walking legs, ranging from 15 to more than 171. The true centipedes (order Scolopendromorpha) have either 21 or 23 pairs of legs. Common house centipedes (Scutigera coleoptrato) have 15 pairs of legs.
Credit: Keith Pardee