Antennae are a pair of sensory appendages of an insect's head that stretch forward. Looking at the entire insect class, with the exception of some higher dipteran larvae, or some special insect taxa that live in an internal parasitic manner, almost all other taxa have antennae. The antennae of insects consist of three parts, namely the stalk node, the stem node and the whip section. The stalk segments are generally coarser and grow in the antennal fossa on either side of the frontal area of the head. The stems are generally shorter and most of them consist of a single section. The whip section is the longest part of the tentacle and the most morphologically diverse, usually consisting of a few to dozens, or even hundreds of bars, which are called whip sections. Some cockroach insects have more than 100 whiplash economies, while the hymenoptera trichophylla has only one whiplash. What are the different antennae that can be seen in the entire insect class? Today we will take a look at the different antennae of different species of insects.
Conventional configuration – filamentous antennae
The antennae of insects have a variety of morphologies depending on the environment and insect habits. The most common type of antennae in insects is called filamentous antennae, also known as linear antennae. Except for the first and second sections of this type of antennae, which are slightly expanded, the remaining widths are almost exactly equal, and there is no special change, such as the antennae of crickets, crickets and celestial bulls are filamentous antennae. It can be said that when you see that the antennae of an insect have any special structure in terms of length or appearance, then you can basically determine that its antennae are filamentous antennae.
Short, lean bristle-like antennae
Before introducing this type of tentacle, we can first recall what the antennae of dragonflies and cicadas look like in your impression. I believe that most people can't think of the tentacles of these two common insects at once, and even always think that these two types of insects have no antennae at all. This is because their antennae are extremely short and difficult to find with the naked eye without careful observation. Because such antennae are very short, and the suspected joints of the whip with bristle-like antennae gradually tapers to the ends, they resemble bristles, so they are called bristle-like antennae.
dragonfly
Hand-strung antennae – rosary-shaped antennae
The so-called rosary tentacles refer to the fact that because the joints of this type of antennae have obvious constrictions, the segments of the antennae form an approximately spherical structure, plus each whip section is so, so the whole resembles a rosary bead hence the name. The most typical taxa of rosary antennae is termites of isoptera. In addition, some beetle antennae are also specialized in the shape of rosary beads, such as the hidden jaw flat nails.
termite
Miniature blade – jagged antennae
The jagged antennae, as its name suggests, resemble a miniature version of a saw blade. The end of each whiplash segment of this type of antennae protrudes to the side. Serrated antennae are common in many beetles, such as fava bean elephants or many male percussion insects. Among them, large nails like Li Jiaojia are more obvious.
Fava bean elephant
A large comb on the head – ctenophoric antennae
The original meaning of the word 栉 is the general term for combs and grates, and it is also a metaphor for the dense arrangement of comb teeth, so the ctenophoric antennae are comb-like antennae. This type of antennae is similar to serrated antennae, but it protrudes much longer in each whip segment to one side than the serrated antennae. This type of antennae is also the most common among beetles, such as male mung bean elephants, species of the genus Comb horn percussion in the family Percussion family are ctenophoric antennae. In addition, there are some insects that are almost entirely ctenophoric antennae, so the names of these families are simply named after ctenophores, such as ctenophoridae, ctenophoridae and ctenophoridae.
The tentacles of the long dancing flowers are the stick-like antennae
Stick-shaped antennae, also known as stick-like antennae or club-like antennae. The antennae of this type are elongated as a whole, but gradually expand in several whip sections at the end, making the whole resemble a golf club, hence the name stick-like antennae. The most typical group of insects with such antennae is the butterfly. In addition to butterflies, there is also a class of insects that also have stick-like antennae, and their body shape is very similar to that of dragonflies, and they are often referred to as "hybrid individuals of dragonflies and butterflies" in the network. In fact, this type of insect is neither a dragonfly nor a butterfly, but a class of insects of the order pulsaria. Their family is also named Sphenodactylidae because of its club-like antennae that resemble butterflies.
Butterfly anthopods
Insect antennae have those functions
In fact, insect antennae are definitely not only a function of detection. It can be said that the antennae are even more complex for insects than the function of compound eyes. In addition to detection, the common functions of antennae include foraging, gathering for courtship, and finding suitable places to lay eggs.
In addition to these main functions, some special insect antennae will even play a more extensive role. For example, the pinnate antennae of male moths have an olfactory-like effect in addition to detecting and receiving female moth pheromones; the ring-haired antennae of male mosquitoes also have auditory-like functions. In addition, there are some antennae that play a unique special role in some insects, and these functions are formed according to the habits of these insects and are specialized for a long time. For example, the antennae of the backstroke bug insects will help the backstroke bug balance the body in the water; The antennae of insects of the family Beetleaceae help them breathe; the antennae of male fleas and coriander insects have the function of holding female insects when mating.
The wide variety of antennae is extremely important to insects. This pair of head appendages gives insects an advantage over other animals in nature and makes them stand out from the crowd of animals on Earth.