Bugs (Insects and Arachnids) | Definition, Facts, & Examples
The scientific name for what most of us consider an insect is an arthropod. Arthropods include insects, spiders (known as arachnids) and crustaceans. Crustaceans are not generally considered “insects”. These include crab, lobster and shrimp. Arthropods are defined as animals with a rigid exoskeleton with joints and articulated pairs of legs.
About Insects
There are many types of insects than any other type of animal on the planet. The main category of insects are butterflies, moths, beetles, centipedes, flies, grasshoppers, and social insects. Insects tend to be small, but can vary in size from nearly invisible to over 7 inches long.
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What makes an insect an insect?
All insects have a hard outer shell made of something called chitin.
Their body is made up of three parts called head, thorax and abdomen.
All insects will have a pair of antennae on their head.
They all have six legs connected to their thorax (arachnids will have eight).
Some insects have wings attached to their thorax and can fly.
Insects hatch from eggs. Young insects are called goddesses. As insects grow, they gain a new hard outer shell by shedding the old shell and growing a new one. This process is called molting.
Social insects live in large groups and work together to survive and build their nests. Some examples are bees, ants, wasps, and termites.
The study of insects is called entomology.
About Arachnids
There are more than 100,000 species of spiders. The word arachnid comes from the Greek word for spider. Accordingly, arachnids are often referred to as spiders. However, there are insects that are not spiders, such as scorpions and ticks, that are included in the class of arachnids.
What makes an Insects and Arachnids?
They have two main body parts called the cephalothorax and the abdomen.
They have eight legs.
They have single eyes compared to the compound eyes of insects.
Unlike insects, they have no antennae or wings.
Interesting Facts About Insects and Arachnids
In a typical square mile of a forest or rainforest, there are more insects than humans on the entire planet.
If you add up the weight of all the ants in the world, they will weigh more than all the humans in the world combined.
Mosquitoes are more attracted to blondes than brunettes and children to adults.
Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.
Some anteaters eat up to 30,000 ants per day.
The average lifespan of house flies is about 14 days.
There are more types of beetles than any other animal.
Bees sometimes fly up to 60 miles in a day.
Ants can carry objects 50 times their own weight. This means that if you were an ant and weighed 100 pounds, you would be able to carry a full-size car on your back!