Importance of the oral apparatus of insects in agriculture
Abstract
Insects are the most successful animal group on earth from any point of view: ecological, biological, biogeographic, among other aspects. The presence of wings and a chitinized exoskeleton, in addition to its small size and high reproductive rate, give it the highest probability of survival against any planetary catastrophe. The diversity of oral appliances found in this animal group indicates a long and refined process of evolution that has led to specialization in the use of various sources of food resources, ranging from very hard substrates (wood) to very soft. (plant or animal tissue).
This use is an adaptive advantage of insects that feed on all kinds of materials and substances. The specialization of each group, towards a source of nutrients, was adjusting the structures that make up the system with which they reach their food, to obtain from their substrate, prey or host, the energy necessary for their life cycle and colonize new areas, thus generating the great variability that we know today in the mouthparts of insects. So much of their activity and behavior are affected mainly by the need to feed, which is an important factor in determining the abundance of a species in its range.
In general, we can mention as main food source, for most insects, plants and all their parts (root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit) and substances (sap, nectar, pollen, resins, oils) . There are also those that feed on other insects and animals, blood, excrement, decomposing matter, and even inorganic materials (Lozano, 2005).
The way of eating represents an important issue for agriculture, since the damage to crops depends on it (OCWUS, 2017). In obtaining their food, insects generate an impact, and have certain characteristics such as shape, location, size, which are typical of each type of oral appliance. In this sense, the objective of this work is to describe the different mouthparts of insects and to highlight the importance of knowing this information due to its usefulness for agricultural purposes.
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