Insects are arthropods with three body parts, the head, thorax, and abdomen as well as an exoskeleton which is chitinous.
Furthermore, the legs, antennae and compound eyes are other vital body parts.
More than one million insect species have been documented, with great diversity and variety among this species such that half of the recorded living species belong to class Insecta.
Different Types of Insects
Below is an insect identification guide that will assist you to understand more about their attractive micro-worlds and teeny-weeny.
Kinds of Flying Insects
One interesting fact about insects is that they are the only invertebrates with the capability to fly.
Moreover, the ability of the insects to fly is so much complex such that even the modern-day technology lags behind comprehending the complexity and sophistication insects employ to fly.
Discusses in the paragraphs below are some of the different kinds of flying insects.
Moths and Butterflies
Moths and butterflies account for more than 100,000 species and belong to the order Lepidoptera.
Some of the species include;
- Flying Insects
- Butterflies
- Silkworms
- Caterpillars
- Skippers (Hesperiidae)
- Swallowtails (Papilionidae)
- Metalmarks (Riodinidae)
- Whites and sulphurs (Pieridae)
- Gossamer-wings (Lycaenidae)
- Brush-footed Butterflies (Nymphalidae)
Grasshoppers, Locusts, and Crickets
Grasshoppers and locusts together account for 20,000 species of insects and belong to the order Orthoptera.
Below are some of the different types of grasshoppers and locusts.
- Crickets
- Four-spotted Grasshopper
- Brown-spotted Grasshopper
- Clear-wing Grasshopper
- Green-striped Grasshopper
- Big-headed Grasshopper
- Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria)
- Migratory locust (Locusta migratoria)
- Brown locust
- Moroccan locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus)
- Australian plague locust ( Chortoicetes terminifera)
- American desert locust (Schistocerca americana)
- Bombay locust (Nomadacris succincta)
- Red locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata)
- Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus)
- Italian locust (Calliptamus italicus)
- Spur-throated locust (Australis procera)
Dragonflies and Damselflies
For more than 300 years, dragonflies have been in existence on earth and mostly found close to water bodies.
Additionally, the prey on other insects such as termites, mosquitoes, midges, ant among many other.
Roaches and Mantids
Roaches belong to the order Blattaria, and there exist many different varieties, with the total number of cockroach species being 4500.
On the other hand, Mantids are insects whose front legs have characteristically enlarged femurs and belong to the order Mantoea, with the femurs having a line which is indented.
- Praying mantis
- Cockroaches
- Cockroach types
Beetles and Lightning Bugs
Beetles are famed for having the greatest number of species in comparison to other insects, with the total number of beetle species being 400,000.
Also, beetles belong to the order Coleoptera and exist in various climatic conditions including the polar regions.
- Lightning bugs
- Ladybug beetle
Flies and Mosquitoes
Flies are recognized by the presence of wings in the mesothorax and belong to order Diptera. The presence of only one pair of wings is the only one feature that differentiates flies from other insects.
Mosquitoes look like crane flies and belong to the Culicidae family and are famous for having mouth parts that can penetrate through the skin.
- Horsefly
- Fruit Flies
Biting and Stinging Snouts
Ants and honeybees are the main types of stinging insects. The important kinds along with short descriptions of the insects are described below.
Honeybees
They are one of the crucial kinds of stinging bees, and the only sting once. Subsequently, they leave venom sac and a barbed stinger after stinging.
Below are some of the critical species of honeybees.
- Bees
- Black Bees
- Killer Bees
- Western honey bee (Apis mellifera)
- Giant honey bee (Apis dorsata)
- Red dwarf honey bee (Apis florea)
- Black dwarf honey bee (Apis andreniformis)
- Koschevnikov’s Bee (Apis koschevnikovi)
- Eastern honey bee (Apis cerana)
Ants
Fire and harvester ants are often seen in our surroundings, with the sub-type of fire ants including the black and red ants.
Contrasting to honeybee that sting only once, ants usually are in a different category which bites and delivers multiple stings and the sting’s marks can be seen in the form of bands of semicircular/circular shapes.
Furthermore, ants belong to the Formicidae family.
Wasps
These insects belong to the order Hymenoptera with a body structure which resembles a combination of that of bees and ants. Also, they are parasitic and can be used in agricultural pest control.
Types of Bugs
Diverse kinds of bugs are included in the order Hemiptera. Despite the general use of the term bug to describe insects in general, in actual sense, insects belonging to the order Hemiptera are bugs.
Additionally, Hemiptera included lots of different varieties of insects in our homes, and some of these bugs are referred to as biting bugs and with the help of proboscis can deliver a bite.
- Potato bugs
- Stink bugs
- Cicada
- Bedbugs
- Milkweed bug
- Leafhoppers
- Ambush bugs
- Box elder bugs
- Assassin bugs
- Houseplant bugs
- Water scorpions
- Leaf footed bugs
- Bordered Plant bugs
- Scarlet Plant bug
Additional insect types.
Below are some more kinds of insects randomly classified.
- Silverfish
- Termites
- Earwig
- Fleas
- Lice
Due to the great variety of insects, it is utterly impossible to identify the number of various species; thus only a few types are discussed in this article.
