And in the tundra, and in the desert, and in any other corner of the earth, insects of the Diptera order are widespread. Representatives of this family have been known to the world since the Jurassic period. Annoying flies, biting mosquitoes are probably familiar to every person firsthand.
Diptera squad: general characteristics
Diptera are called invertebrate animals belonging to the class of insects, a characteristic feature of which is the presence of one pair of full-fledged wings and the presence of complete metamorphosis. Almost every person learns about their definition after reading the textbook "Biology". Diptera is also a detachment that unites more than one hundred and fifty families and one hundred thousand species of insects. Midges, mosquitoes, flies, horseflies are especially famous.
Scientists do not classify Diptera as social animals, but there are exceptional cases when representatives of this order form flocks. Usually these are situations due to the presence of an attractive aroma of food, the convenient location of the territory for mating or rest.
But the majority of Diptera prefer solitaryExistence. Each of them goes through a certain cycle, due to which the transformation into a full-fledged individual of the Diptera order is obtained. Representatives of this order are initially at the egg stage, then they pass into the larva, followed by the pupa, and only then the imago.
At the larval stage, the body of an individual is like a worm without legs. The only protrusion on their body are non-segmented formations on the abdomen. They also have mouthparts. An adult imago is able to live only in the air space. The larvae are not picky in this regard. They are comfortable in the soil, and in the water, and in the organisms of plants and animals. Imago, included in the order Diptera, feed on nectar and pollen of plants. They are predatory and blood-sucking.
Diptera squad: breeding
Larvae and adult representatives of this order have striking differences in the field of anatomical and physiological structure. The period of increased reproduction for a number of dipterous insects is not easy. Often, males ready to breed will create a kind of swarm, the noise of which is able to lure many females.
The main proportion of Diptera is oviparous. But in nature there are flies that are ovoviviparous. In this case, the insect lays an egg in which the finally formed Diptera larvae are located. After hatching, they immediately begin the life process of feeding.
Also there are flies capable of live birth. In this case, there are twooutcome of events. In the first, an older larva is born, requiring a certain amount of time to feed, in the second, the larva is born in full readiness for pupation.
Also, Diptera reproduction can occur at the larval stage. This phenomenon is called pedogenesis. It is based on the maturation of about sixty daughter larvae in the body of paedogenetic ones. Daughter larvae emerge through breaks in the maternal integument. Reproduction in favorable conditions allows insects belonging to the order Diptera to produce up to 10 new generations per year.
External signs of adult Diptera
Adult two-winged insect - imago - reaches from two to five centimeters in size. Bilateral symmetry is a characteristic feature that distinguishes Diptera from other orders. The limbs on the body are located on the abdomen in the amount of three pairs. The head of dipterous insects is distinguished by a rounded shape with characteristic huge compound eyes located on both sides.
The main proportion of such representatives has a sucking mouth apparatus. In addition to it, there are sucking-licking and piercing-sucking. In some gadflies, the oral apparatus is underdeveloped. The anterior membranous wings are attached to the mesothorax. They are better developed than the rear and are the main means of flight. A pair of rear-view wings in the process of evolution took the form of club-shaped h alteres and turned into an organ of balance. Legs in the amount of three pairs depart from the chest of an insect included in the detachmentDiptera. The limbs are complemented by suction cups and claws. It is their presence that allows insects to move along vertical planes.
Internal structure
Hemolymph acts as the liquid medium of the organism of representatives of the order Diptera. At its core, this substance is similar to blood in the organisms of higher animals. The order Diptera is characterized by an open circulatory system. That is, in all representatives, the hemolymph is in contact with the internal organs. On the back wall of the chest cavity, each representative of the Diptera order has a thickened and compacted dorsal vessel. In fact, it is he who performs the functions of the heart. Tracheae are responsible for breathing in the body of insects. Gas exchange processes are carried out in the abdominal cavity. There is a huge number of tracheas in close proximity to the aorta. The insect order Diptera is also characterized by the presence of a brain.
Role in nature
Very many insects belonging to the Diptera order can harm human or animal he alth. First of all, this is due to the fact that representatives such as mosquitoes, flies, mosquitoes, horseflies and zhigalki tend to carry all sorts of infectious diseases. There are a number of individuals that can harm plants while in the larval stage. In this state, they often parasitize in the human body and in the body of domestic animals. In turn, dipteran representatives of this order, pollinating plants and acting as soil formers, bring benefits. Existand species of dipterous insects that are destroyers of farmland.
One hundred thousand species of Diptera are combined into several groups:
- mosquitoes and midges;
- fat bugs and mushroom mosquitoes;
- butterflies;
- long-legged;
- lions;
- stem eaters;
- gadflies;
- balloons;
- humpbacks;
- hoverflies;
- dung and houseflies;
- gadflies and tahini.
House flies
The house flies belong to the family of real flies. They are the owners of a synanthropic organism, which is currently almost impossible to find in nature. An individual of this species is awake mainly during the day. The structure of the fly is distinguished by large faceted dark red eyes. In length, it usually does not exceed eight millimeters. The color of her body is gray with characteristic black longitudinal stripes on the chest. The abdomen in the lower part has a yellowish color.
The structure of the female fly is somewhat different from the males. First of all, they have increased the distance between the eyes. Secondly, females are larger in size. House flies have licking-sucking mouthparts. In this regard, they are not capable of biting through the skin and sucking blood. They only take liquids for food. In the case of the consumption of solid food, they must first perform the procedure of its dissolution in their own saliva.
The life span of a housefly depends on the temperature regime of its habitat. In an optimal environment, with temperatures fluctuating aroundtwenty-four degrees Celsius, she is able to live up to twenty days. According to the method of reproduction, house flies are oviparous. At one time, one individual is able to lay up to one hundred and twenty eggs. Their transformation cycle is complete.
Mosquitoes
Otherwise they are also called blood-sucking mosquitoes. They belong to the group of long-whiskers. They mostly feed on the juice and nectar of plants. In many, the mouth apparatus is also designed to pierce the skin and suck out blood. Each of these types of food is a very important source of energy for this insect.
The body of mosquitoes is thin, up to fourteen centimeters long. They also have long limbs and narrow, almost transparent wings. Their body color is gray, yellowish or brown. There is a variety of mosquitoes with a green or black belly.
The elongated abdomen is divided into ten segments. A feature of the structure of mosquitoes is that the chest is somewhat wider than the abdomen. They have a pair of claws on the tips of their paws. Mosquitoes have scaly wings and segmented antennae. The type of mouth apparatus is piercing-sucking.
A distinctive feature of the female is a long proboscis with piercing bristles. Each insect of this species has a tubular lower lip. It is behind it that the oral apparatus is hidden. Also on this lip are several jaws that allow the mosquito to cut a hole in the skin. After eruption, he plunges his proboscis into the hole, through which he sucks blood. In their development, all mosquitoes go through a full life cycle.cycle from egg to adult.
Gidflies
In the Diptera family, horseflies occupy an important place. Biologists refer them to the suborder of short-whiskers. In appearance, they are similar to flies, only larger. They have a fleshy trunk with sharp and hard piercing-cutting stylets. The antennae of horseflies stick out forward and consist of four segments. Their eyes are large and colorful. The mouth apparatus includes mandibles, jaws, upper lip and subglottis and lower lip with sweeping lobes.
Like most Diptera, horseflies are oviparous. At the egg stage, they are long and gray, black or brown in color. Turning into larvae, they lighten and become spindle-shaped. Horsefly pupae are very similar to butterfly pupae. The main distribution medium is grazing areas.
The female adult of this insect usually feeds on the blood of warm-blooded animals. Males prefer plant nectar. At one time, the female is able to lay up to one thousand eggs. Horseflies spend most of their lives in the air, flying over various terrain and objects.
Gadflies
In fact, gadflies are all the same flies. They are medium in size. Their larvae lead a parasitic lifestyle on mammals. There are cases when they are found in a person in the form of myiasis. Gadflies go through a complete transformation before becoming an imago. These dipterous insects spend about one year going through the full cycle of transformation in the subcutaneous space of the animal.
An important feature of adults is the lack of need for food. The fact is that they, being a larva, accumulate the necessary amount of nutrients, the consumption of which occurs at the adult stage. Usually adults live from three to twenty days. During its existence, it loses up to a third of its weight.
Gadfly mating occurs annually in the same places. After the male fertilizes the female, she immediately goes in search of an animal suitable for laying eggs. Most preferable for them is the area of the soft wall of the abdomen, the groin and the front of the thigh of the animal. There are gastric, subcutaneous and cavity gadflies. The most vulnerable are horses, goats, sheep, donkeys and cattle.
Butterflies
Butterflies, or dipteran butterflies, belong to the suborder of long-whiskers. In fact, these are small mosquitoes, ranging in size from one to four millimeters. In their appearance, they are very reminiscent of miniature and neat butterflies. In total there are almost three thousand species. There are butterflies in all corners of the globe. Their main diversity is seen in the CIS countries. Butterfly larvae prefer to live in rotting plant remains. Some of them prefer the aquatic environment.
The head of an adult moth is decorated with antennae and two eyes. Its small wings are about two millimeters long. The whole body, including the wings, has a light hairy covering. Butterflies are characterized by a steel or silver color. They use their wingsrarely. The main way of movement is to move with the help of gusts of wind.
In total, an adult specimen of this dipteran insect lives for two or three weeks. In the course of her life, she usually does not eat at all. To attract a male for mating, moths are able to secrete a special attracting secret. It is worth noting that a similar secret is able to allocate spider-bolads. This property allows him to attract male moths, who very often get bogged down in his web.
A butterfly can lay 100 eggs at once. And in just two days, a larva hatches from each egg. Butterfly larvae have a very important positive feature - they are able to eat mucous formations in the inside of sewer pipes. This is how they cleanse them. Butterfly adults enter apartments through cracks in the floor, holes in sewers, clogged drains and risers. Apartments with high humidity are the most comfortable for them.
