Insects of Oakhurst Fiorest Preserve

Insects

Insects are the largest class of animals, with over 900,000 known species, with the true total estimated to be much larger. Insects have a segmented body plan, broken into three main parts - the head, thorax, and abdomen. The head includes a mouth, a pair of antenna used to sense the world around them, two large compound eyes, and normally three smaller eyes called oceli. The primary function of the thorax is locomotion, with three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings. All insects are descended from a common ancestor that first took the the air some 350-400 million years ago, although some orders have since lost that ability completely (lice, fleas). The abdomen contains the digestive and reproductive system of the insects

Insects wear their skeleton on the outside, and this exoskeleton must be shed in order for an insect to grow. After each molt, the new exoskelton is soft and pliable, so the immature insect must inflate its body with air before it hardens. Each moulting stage is referred to as an instar.

The insect life cycle consists of 3 or 4 stages. All insects begin life as an egg which then hatches into a larve. In the case of hemimetabolous insects, the larve will go through several instar stages, becoming an adult with the final moult. Once an adult, they are capable of both flying and reproducing. With holometabulous insects, there is a stage betwen larva and adult - the pupae. Here the insect's body undergoes a complete transformation, with the adult lookin complete different from the larva. These two life cyles are also refered to as incomplete and complete metamorphasis.

Bees and Wasps

Beetles

Bugs

Butterflies

Damselflies

Dragonflies

Flies

Grasshoppers

Mantids

Moths