Types of Insects for competitive exam

Types of insect mouthparts

Biting and chewing type: e.g. Cockroach & grasshopper.
Piercing and sucking / hemipterous / bug type: e.g. Plant bugs.
Piercing and sucking / dipterous / mosquito type : e.g. Female mosquit
Chewing and lapping type : e.g. honey bee
Rasping and sucking : e.g. Thrips
Sponging type : e.g. House fly
Siphoning type : e.g. Moths and butterflies

Types of insects based on food habits:

a. Carnivorous insects: These insects rely other animals tissue to feed on. They do not cherish vegetarian diet.Ex: House fly, mosquito.

b.Herbivorous insects: They live exclusively on plant material like flower nectar, seeds, leaves etc. Butterfly, dragon fly.

Types of insects based on presence of wings:

a. Wingless insects: These insects lack wings in their entire life cycle. Ex: Apterygota, Scorpion,spiders etc.eg- butter fly

b. Winged insects: These insects have wings. They are called true insects. In general most insects have wings like butter fly, house fly etc.

Types of insects based on the living habitat:

Insects differ in their place of abode. Few of them live on tress, while other on land and some of them on water or in water. Based on this we have aquatic and terrestrial insects.

a.Aquatic insects: These insects live on water. They can even dive to the depths of water and hunt the prey. They have special organs ad method of respiration. They have gills, respiratory tubes etc.

b.Terrestrial insects: These are the insects which survive only on land. They may even make holes and deep dwellings inside the earth for survival. Ex: Ants, cockroaches etc.

Types of insects based on social behavior:

Insects though being very tiny have good communication among themselves. Most of the insects live alone i.e. on their own. But some of them live in groups or colonies. So based on this socializing behavior we can classify them as-

a.Individual/reclusive: These insects live individually and not in groups. They satisfy their own needs and do not support others. Ex: House fly, mosquito etc.

b.Social insects: These insects live in groups or colonies in a burrow or beehive.