Bedbugs or Hemiptera order: insects that can be found both in the forest and in bed
The order Hemiptera contains over one hundred thousand species of insects. Previously, only bedbugs were referred to them, now other representatives are also included. All of them are distinguished by some external features and a jointed proboscis. The latter is a piercing-sucking oral apparatus of the bug for piercing the surface shells and sucking out the nutrient fluid.
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General description of the detachment
Hemiptera are terrestrial or aquatic insects with incomplete metamorphosis, whose vital activity is famous for its diversity. Among them are mycophages and parasites of warm-blooded animals, herbivores and predators, pests of agriculture and forestry. They can live in spider and emby nets, in the depths and on the surface of water bodies. The only thing that the representatives of the detachment are not capable of is to climb inside the tissues of wood and parasitize in the bodies of living organisms.
The external structure of insects
These insects, as a rule, have a bright combined coloration, a moderately flattened body from 1 to 15 cm long, and antennae with 3-5 segments. Many have two pairs of wings that fold flat at rest. The forewings are turned into semi-elytra, often completely absent. The limbs are usually walking type, and in aquatic individuals - swimming and grasping.
The internal structure of Hemiptera
Some individuals can boast of a vocal apparatus, especially developed in cicadas. They have special cavities that act as a resonator. The rest of the insects produce sounds by rubbing their proboscis against their forelimbs or breast.
Diet of Hemiptera
Insects feed mainly on blood, plant products, organic debris and hemolymph.
Most representatives of the order are characterized by eating cell sap and parts of flowering plants, cereals, and fruit trees. Some species suck out the juices of mushrooms and ferns with their proboscis.
Some individuals prefer small insects and their larvae. On the lower jaws of these hemipterans are toothed stylets that cut and abrade the tissues of the prey. Water bugs prey on fish fry and tadpoles.
Insect lifestyle
Among the variety of species, there are representatives with an open and hidden lifestyle, living under tree bark, stones, in the ground, etc. For example, the predominant number of females of Sternorrhyncha leads a sedentary existence, attached to the host plant. There are also many permanent or temporary parasites in the detachment, the bites of which can be painful and harmful.
| Commensalism and inquilinism | Inquilines and commensals are found in different groups of hemipterans. Some coexist in associations with ants and anthills, others live in an obligate alliance with termites. Representatives of Embiophilinae live in emby webs, and individuals of Plokiphilinae live in spider nets. |
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| Overwater lifestyle | Hemiptera, which feel good on the surface of the water, use special devices in the form of a non-wetted body and paws. These include insects from the family of whirlwinds and the infra-order Gerromorpha. |
| Aquatic lifestyle | Several groups of bugs live in the water, including: water scorpions, Nepidae, Aphelocheiridae and others. |
How do hemiptera reproduce and develop
Reproduction in these insects occurs in different ways. For example, live birth, heterogony, polymorphism and parthenogenesis are practiced among aphids. Bedbugs cannot boast of too high fertility. Their females lay up to two hundred eggs with a cap at the end, from which a larva similar to an adult emerges. However, there are also species that bear offspring on themselves. The development of the larvae proceeds in five stages. Moreover, the period of transformation into a mature insect varies from 14 days to 24 months.
Habitat of Hemiptera
Representatives of the detachment are distributed throughout the globe. Most insects are concentrated in South America. It is there that the largest specimens live.
Common types of insects from the order Hemiptera
The most famous semi-coleoptera are: bugs (water striders, smoothies, belostomy, stink bugs, predators, bed bugs, etc.), cicadas (pennitsy, humpbacks, lanterns, etc.), aphids.
The benefits and harms of Hemiptera for humans
For people, bed bugs are the most dangerous. Insects that live in nature harm plants, but among them there are also useful predatory species that are bred specifically to protect the crop. These are: podizus, macrolofus, pikromerus, perillus and bug-soldier.
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