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Out and about until
we reopen in late 2011
Insects – what’s all the fuss about ?
Insects are perhaps the most familiar invertebrates. They belong to a group of animals known as arthropods. Adult insects have six legs and a body made up of a head, thorax and abdomen. Many also have one or two pairs of wings - they are the only invertebrates that can fly. Their bodies are supported by a hard exoskeleton made of chitin.
Animals without a backbone. This excludes Birds, mammals, reptiles and fishLiterally meaning external skeleton - this is the hard outer body layer that supports the soft internal body organs of artropodsChitin is a polysaccharide (carbohydrate). It is produced by many invertebrates to form hard structures such as an exoskeleton (e.g. in crabs and insects), a rasping tongue (in snails) or a crushing beak (in octopi and squid). It is also found in the cell wall of fungi.Vile or vital?
Insects often have a bad reputation for being creepy, scary or just a complete nuisance. Whist bees may sting us if we sit on them or get too close to their nests, we rely on them to pollinate our crops. Without them performing this vital role it would be very difficult to produce food – the bees are the farmer’s best friend!
Other insects are responsible for keeping the soil fertile (e.g. dung beetles), eating smaller insects which damage the plants we grow (such as the ladybird eating greenfly), and some very insignificant-looking bugs called scale insects have been used to produce carmine (a red dye used in foods, textiles and cosmetics) since the time of the Aztecs.
Insect diversity
Insect diversity is far greater than any other group of animals and the sheer numbers of species and of different insect groups is mind-blowing. Insects also outnumber most other animal groups in terms of individuals, and colonies of the social insects such as ants may number in the millions. Insect collections allow us to monitor and study insect biodiversity.
RAMM's insect Collections
RAMM's insect collections are divided into the main orders of insects. This arrangement allows us to quickly locate a particular type of insect for reference.
| Scientific | English |
| Lepidoptera | Butterflies and moths |
| Coleoptera | Beetles |
| Diptera | True flies |
| Hymenoptera | Bees, ants and wasps |
| Orthoptera | Crickets and grasshoppers |
| Hemiptera | True bugs |
| Odonata | Dragonflies and damselflies |
| Mantodea | Praying mantids |
| Phasmida | Stick and leaf insects |
They are stored in drawers that have a tightly fitted lid to keep out pests such as the carpet beetle which will feed on the dead insects and destroy the collection. Most of the insects have a pin through them which allows them to be viewed from all angles and holds them in place. The pin is held in place by the cork or plastazote drawer lining.
The pin also holds labels that give information about the specimen such as collection location and date. The information that accompanies a specimen is very important, particularly where and when it was collected. Other information such as whose collection it came from can often be deduced from the handwriting or type of label if this information is not given.
