How many different insects surround us in the city and in nature. But what do we know about them? At best, we know the names of some of those closest to humans: flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, spiders, bees, and wasps. Residents of private houses who have their own garden have more extensive information. In particular, they are well acquainted with May beetles, larvae, caterpillars, Colorado beetles, snails, grasshoppers, locusts, worms, ants, bumblebees, various spiders, flies, butterflies, dragonflies and other insects. Not everyone knows that the last concept has a huge classification.
Do you also know that insects with complete transformation include not only butterflies so beloved by us and our children, but also ordinary fleas? Let's take a closer look.
Insects with complete metamorphosis are…
Not to mention another species. Insects with complete transformation include all those who carry out verycomplex changes to the adult from larva through pupa.
Chrysalis is distinguished by pronounced apathy. She does not eat anything and is motionless. In rare cases, the pupa may be inactive, and only occasionally certain groups of insects develop through the active phase.
Such exceptions include, for example, well-known and little-loved mosquitoes (dipterous insects, a group of long-whiskers). By the way, this is one of the most ancient insects. Fossil mosquitoes have been found in cultural strata dating back to the Cretaceous period. Today, there are more than 3 thousand varieties in the world. And in Europe, more than 100 species of mosquitoes are distinguished.
An adult insect is called an adult. Don't be surprised to see this term in any species description.
Full transformation insects include units such as:
- fan wings;
- Diptera order;
- flea;
- camels;
- big-winged;
- Hymenoptera order;
- Reticoptera;
- coleoptera squad;
- scorpions;
- caddisflies;
- Squad of Lepidoptera.
General characteristics
This is how most of the Earth's insects develop. They are characterized by complete dissimilarity between the larva and the adult. They can differ not only in appearance, but also in their habitat and food intake. It's not a coincidence, it's justone of the indicators of how everything in nature is thought out and harmonious. This separation of the spheres of interest of two forms of the same insect completely removes the unequal rivalry between them.
The larvae of these go through one or more periods of molting, grow to a certain size, then go into the pupal stage, which is most often characterized by low activity or even complete immobility. And already from it an adult insect is formed - an imago.
Common misconceptions
One of the most common misconceptions is that most of us know only butterflies - the most striking representatives of insects with complete transformation. However, a very large number of beetles and others around us also boast of creating a chrysalis.
Insects with complete metamorphosis are Orthopterans quite often. However, from a biological point of view, this is not entirely true. Officially, these orders are still classified as part of an incomplete metamorphosis, despite the presence of some semblance of a pupa in several species.
A squad that includes such jumping individuals as locusts, grasshoppers, crickets and even bears does not create immobile and inactive pupae. Their life cycle consists in the fact that the eggs laid, often in the soil, release a young individual, very close in appearance to the imago. In the subsequent period, the individual only develops, cango through one or more periods of molting, but does not radically transform.
This is also typical for other representatives, so we can conclude that Orthoptera are erroneously classified as insects with complete metamorphosis. Diptera are a different species. You need to clearly distinguish between them.
Diptera
What else is worth knowing? We have already figured out that Orthoptera are erroneously classified as insects with complete metamorphosis. Diptera, which include such well-known representatives as flies, mosquitoes and midges, go through a life cycle that includes a pupa. Therefore, they are classified as units with full transformation.
Dipterologists - scientists who study Diptera - have described more than 150,000 species, including fossils. This is probably the most common order of insects. They live everywhere: in the hot climate of equatorial Africa, and on the icy Antarctica.
Insects with complete metamorphosis include Diptera squads for a reason. They form two different types of pupae. The first species, a glued pupa, has all the features of an adult. The second is long-whiskered.
Diptera are very important for agriculture. Pollination of most cultivated plants occurs with their help. However, some individuals, especially blood-sucking ones, turn out to be carriers of such serious diseases as malaria or various types of fever.
Coleoptera
To insects with full transformationinclude beetles. We also know them as beetles.
For example, May beetles are insects with complete metamorphosis. The May beetle forms a chrysalis, which takes the form of the so-called free. Outwardly, it is very similar to an imago, differing only in the shape of the wings and head and the presence of a “cradle”.
Beetles are quite diverse. Among them there are both predators and vegetarians who consume exclusively plant foods. Also among the beetles there are carrion eaters.
Lepidoptera
Insects with complete metamorphosis include Lepidoptera. Everyone's favorite butterflies are hiding under this incomprehensible name.
They deserve this name for the special structure of the wings, covered with very small chitinous plates that refract light. It is they who create the unique colors that these insects delight the eye with.
Like everything in nature, the color of the wings is of great importance in the life cycle of Lepidoptera. This is not only disguise and protection from enemies. By color, butterflies are also able to recognize different species.
The adult feeds on the nectar of flowers, while the caterpillar larva feeds directly on the leaves and stems of plants.
The uniqueness of butterflies is also that this is one of the few insects that a person breeds not for the purpose of bait or food. Silkworms are used to make fabrics. This is the only insect species that does not occur freely in wildlife.
Hymenoptera
The most famous group in our region. We are finesuch representatives of Hymenoptera as wasps and bees are familiar. Surprisingly, ants also belong to this order, despite the fact that some of their species do not have wings.
Benefiting people
It is well known that everything in nature is harmonious and thought out. There are no insects that do not play their own role in the life chain of their region. However, not all of them are beneficial to humans. Many beetles and caterpillars are the enemy of agriculture, it is with them that agronomists and scientists are fighting. Nevertheless, many insects are simply irreplaceable in human life and bring invaluable benefits.
Some insects are cultivated by humans. Who has not tried honey from home apiaries? But honey bees produce it.
The benefits of many insects are used by humans. For example, predatory beetles scare away caterpillars that harm plantations. And everyone's favorite ladybugs eat harmful aphids.
Also, insects perform some sanitary function, for example, dung beetles and their larvae process manure.
Although butterfly larvae - caterpillars - are very harmful to agriculture, their adults pollinate plants, and this is an undeniable benefit. The same goes for Hymenoptera.
By the way…
As you can see, nature is rich in various types of insects of different species. Some of them we find annoying and nasty. But without their existence, evolution was impossible. In ancient times, people ascribed divine qualities to certain insects. Statues of gods with insect heads can often be found in museums.antiques in different parts of the world. I must say that in the Bible, the second coming of Christ is described by total changes in nature, one of which should be an invasion of locusts.
