From crawling snails to flying butterflies there are a number of insects living around us. Insects existed on earth even before humans and is one of the most diverse groups of animals with around 1 million known species around the world. Based on their physical traits insects can survive in different habitats from deserts to oceans. All insects share some common physical features. These special characteristics of insects include hard outer shells called exoskeleton and joint legs. Insects play a crucial role in our environment as predators, pollinators and decomposers. Let’s explore more facts about insects, their body parts, physical characteristics and learn the common insect names found around us.

What are Insects
Body Parts of an Insect
Common Insect Names
Interesting Facts about Insect Names

What are Insects

An insect is a small invertebrate with six legs that has a hard outer shell called exoskeleton. Insects belong to the arthropods family which means the body of an insect has three main sections: a head, thorax and abdomen. Common features of all insects include six legs, three sections in the body and a pair of antennae. Some insects have two pairs of wings and some have evolved to not have any. Some insect names found commonly in our surroundings include butterflies, grasshoppers and beetles. All these insects have the same features: six legs, three main body parts, antennas and two pairs of wings.

Body Parts of an Insect

The insect body is divided into three main parts: head, thorax and abdomen. Other parts such as antennae, legs, eyes, proboscis and wings are all attached to these three parts. Let’s learn more about each part of the insect.

Abdomen: The rarest part of the insect body that holds all vital organs to respirate, digest and reproduce.
Thorax: It is the middle part of an insect between its head and the abdomen that holds wings and legs.
Head: The top most part of the insect that holds compound eyes, proboscis and antennas.
Forewing: Thickened hard wings in insects to protect the abdomen and hindwings are called forewings.
Hindwing: Soft wings attached to the rare part that maintain the balance in insects while flying are called hindwings.
Legs: All insects have six legs attached under the thorax.
Antenna: All insects have an antenna attached to their heads that help them sense chemical signals in the air.
Proboscis: An elongated straw-like mouthpart in insects that sucks nectar from flowers.
Compound Eyes: Many insects have compound eyes that have many lenses to capture separate images.

Common Insect Names

Insects are one of the most diverse animal groups on the planet with different species living in both water and land. Here are the common insect names:

Grasshoppers: A green insect with long hind legs that jumps and hops 20 times their body length. They are found usually in green and brown environments and some of them can fly while others just jump from one leaf to another.

Butterflies: With four beautiful wings butterflies are insects that can use their feet to smell and taste flowers and plants. They use their straw like proboscis to suck nectar from flowers. Their legs also help them decide the appropriate place for laying eggs.

Ants: This small yet powerful insect can lift 10-15 times more weight than its own weight. They live in colonies with a queen ant and are highly social.

Beetles: With many different colours and a hard shell around it, a beetle can survive in many different environments. They are the primary decomposers in the forest with over 30,000 different species that usually eat caterpillars and other insects.

Housefly: These are among the most common insects found near us that can taste with their legs and also carry many germs to cause diseases.

Other Insects Found in our Surroundings

Fleas	Moth
Ants	Bed bugs
Cockroaches	Silverfish
Termites	Earwigs
Beetles	Caterpillars

Fun Facts about Insects

Around 75% of all animals are categorised as insects.
Insects are an important part of the food chain.
Spiders have eight legs and they are not an insect. It belongs to the arachnids family.
Many plants are dependent on insects to reproduce.
There are over around 5.5 million species of insects on earth.