INSECTS classification

The insects They are one of the animals with most diversity in the world: diversity of shapes, sizes, forms of life, habitats, etc. In fact, it is estimated that they represent more than 90% of the life forms on the planet and many of them have yet to be described.

Faced with such a variety, researchers have made a classification to be able to study and identify them. As we will see in this lesson from a TEACHER, classification of insects It takes into account, above all, visual characteristics, but what are they? If you want to know more, we invite you to continue reading.

Within the Invertebrate animalswe found the edge of the arthropods. It is within the phylum of arthropods that the Class Insecta. The characteristics that have defined insects and their classification have varied throughout the history, but in this lesson from a TEACHER we will stick to what is generally accepted and checked.

Insects are invertebrate animals that have the body divided into three parts: head, thorax and abdomen

They have 3 pairs of legs, compound eyes, a pair of antennae and two pairs of wings, although these can be reduced or absent in some species, as we will see below.

Often, within the group of insects we group animals that do not belong to it. For example, centipedes, millipedes or millipedes, spiders, scorpions and scale insects. Differentiating them is easy if you look at the number of legs. Insects have three pairs of legswhereas scorpions and spiders have four pairs and scale insects have ten pairs of legs and can curl; centipedes and millipedes have many pairs of legs, many more than three!

When we are faced with the classification of insects for the first time, the first characteristics that we observe are the wings:

• Wingless or wingless insects.
• Pterygous or winged insects.

Most of the insects that we can see around us are insects with wings (pterygotes). In this lesson we will look at both winged insects and wingless insects. Also, if you are interested in these animals, do not miss our lesson on the insect metamorphosis.