What is an Insect Identification Guide?

We encounter insects of different kinds in our daily lives. A guide on insects will provide us the necessary information about the type of insects we see lurking around us.

When we study the various identifications of insects, we get overwhelmed because of its many types. The purpose of insect identification is to guide and make us aware which insects or anthropoids are found.

Identification Guide on Insects

Ants - Super family Formicoidea is the group where all ants belong to. These insects are very distinct in appearance. There are a few other insects that look like them.

Cicadas - This is a group of insects known by its popular name, "harvest flies" or "cicadas". Sometimes they are called locusts. Cicadae are a group of large insects. It contains many tropical species. The bodies are large with a wide, rounded head, and with prominent eyes on the outer angles.

Cockroaches - This group of insects is very rich in the tropics. Few of them become domesticated. They are abundant in the colder parts of the world also. Cockroaches are the most persistent one. Insects of this family existed in great numbers in geologic period.

Fleas - Pulicidae is the name of the flea's group. They don't have wings. Their mouths are formed for sucking. The body is squeezed together from side to side.

Flies - These insects which are true flies have two wings. They belong to the Diptera group. These are the only insects that possess two wings, except for the males of the scale insects.

Grasshoppers - You will find this family anywhere. They are abundant in a number of species and individuals. Grasshoppers belong to the most harmful insect species that devastated lots of countries in the world like:

- Russia
- Portion of South Europe
- Africa
- Algeria
- India
- Cape Colony
- Argentine Republic and
- Some parts of the U.S.

Mosquitoes - These insects belong to the group Culicidae. This is a very important group though it is not a large one. There are a lot of mosquitoes in many localities. They pose as a great irritation to man and animals. This is also because mosquitoes are active agents in the transfer of disease.

Thrips - They belong to the order Physopoda. They are a much differentiated group. Thrips have no close relatives amongst other insects. Their features are:

- slender
- tiny
- four-winged (slender, very short, transparent, no veins wings)
- fringed
- long delicate hairs
- lay along the back of the abdomen when resting

The largest group of all groups is the Arthropoda. The members are found in the:

- seas
- fresh water
- land or
- flying freely

This group has remarkable differences in structure. Other animals taken together are less than one sixth as many as arthropods. Well-known members of this group are:

- lobsters
- crayfish and crabs
- scorpions
- spiders
- mites
- ticks
- centipedes and millipedes and
- insects

In the Hexapoda or insects, the body's segments are grouped in three distinct sections:

• head
• thorax
• abdomen

The head has antennae. The six legs are joined to the thorax. The four wings are usually present. They use air tubes to breathe. The group is categorically a terrestrial one and in many cases their early life is spent in water.

In our daily lives, we meet insects of some kinds. We are sometimes surprised what these insects are. They are often seen as pests in our garden. Sometimes we see them on:

- flowers
- shrubs
- crops
- pets

Thus, some of these insects are harmful stings. They can give minor to serious health threats to everyone.