Insects have different types of mouthparts. Even in one species of arthropod, its type can change during life when the stage of development changes. This is due to the need to switch to another diet. So, caterpillars feed on the pulp of leaves and have gnawing mouthparts. Butterfly mouthparts are for liquid food only.
Types of mouthparts
What are the types of insect mouthparts? Since the mouth organs are evolutionarily formed by the paired limbs of arthropods, there must be some restrictions on the structure of the mouth. However, we see a wide variety of mouthparts:
- Gnawing. Considered original. It has in its structure all the original parts of the oral apparatus of insects: both lips and two pairs of jaws. Caterpillars, grasshoppers have such an apparatus.
- Tube-sucking. The oral apparatus is represented by a sucking proboscis. Some organs of the original apparatus are lost. Availableonly in Lepidoptera.
- Licking. This is an overgrown lower lip. The representative is a fly. She can only eat liquid food.
- Prickly-sucking. This is also a proboscis, but more complex. Mosquitoes, aphids have such a device.
- Gnawing-licking. Bees and bumblebees are able to extract nectar from deep nectarifers, all thanks to modified lower jaws and lower lip.
- Cut-sucking. The upper jaws are transformed into blades, which is observed in horseflies. They suck blood with the help of the lower lip, part of which has a spongy structure.
In addition to the above main types, there are also less common types of oral apparatus. Nature successfully experiments and forms a rich variety of organ modifications.
For example, in dragonfly larvae, the lower lip is strongly elongated and looks like a hand. She suddenly jumps forward and grabs her prey. Such formation is called in science "mask".
Blackfly larvae that live in water feed on filtration. The fan-shaped organ allows you to trap microorganisms, which then enter the body of the insect. Such larvae have a filtering type of mouth apparatus.
What mouthparts do butterflies have?
Butterflies are delicate and beautiful creatures. We often see them sitting on flowers. For feeding with nectar, a device in the form of a tube is needed. These insects do not gnaw anything. The type of mouth apparatus of the butterfly is tubular-sucking.
Device
The mouthparts of a butterfly are simple but elegant. The proboscis is strongly formedelongated maxilla, that is, the lower jaws. The oral apparatus of a butterfly has both upper and lower lips. They are located, respectively, above and below the proboscis. The upper jaws - mandibles - in Lepidoptera are reduced to tubercles or completely lost. In the course of evolution, the palps of the lower lip were preserved. They consist of three segments and look like additional short antennae.
Proboscis work
The oral apparatus of a butterfly is a beautiful formation. The proboscis is tightly folded when at rest.
For feeding, the butterfly unfolds it and touches it with the tip of its proboscis in search of food that it previously felt with its paws. It is on the paws of this insect that the receptors responsible for taste are located.
Some butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers. In this case, the length of their proboscis coincides with the length of the nectarifers, on which they more often get food. The same species of Lepidoptera can, if possible, get enough of tree sap or fruit juice.
They will most likely like the jam left by people, various sweets, fruits. There are species of Lepidoptera that feed on aphid secretions. Some imago species do not feed at all. In such representatives, the proboscis is underdeveloped. For example, in wavelets.
Butterflies with gnawing mouthparts
However, not all butterflies have sucking mouthparts. There are species of moths that have a gnawing mouth apparatus. These representatives have developed upper jaws. Butterflies with chewing mouthparts belong to a separate suborder of Gnawing. They areable to eat roughage. All other representatives belong to the Hobotkov suborder, they have a sucking mouth apparatus.
Thus, the mouth apparatus of a butterfly is of a sucking type. The proboscis is very long, but so that such a formation does not interfere, it is folded into several rings in a calm state. The proboscis is elastic, flexible. It is formed by two lower jaws, each of which has the appearance of a gutter.
