The word ‘insects’ comes from the verb ‘to cut’ and means ‘animals with notches.’ Insects have an external chitinous skeleton with three large sections - the head, chest and abdomen. According to the most common theory, the first insects appeared about 410 million years ago. Their ancestors were crustaceans.
With rare exceptions, insects do not live long. Confirmed long-livers are cicadas and termites queens, they can live 17-25 years. But some species spend a few hours at all stages of life. For example, adult mayflies live 1–3 days, fruit flies - 10 days, and butterflies - on average a couple of weeks. Generations of insects quickly adapt to new conditions. This quality helped them become one of the most tenacious classes of creatures.
For example, cockroaches were one of the first insects on the planet not only surviving all global catastrophes, but also flourishing at the present time. The ancient cockroach species had four folding wings, well-developed eyes, six legs, a system of olfactory antennae, and an exoskeleton. They could absorb both plant and animal food. According to scientists, 359 million years ago cockroaches accounted for about 90% of all insect species. Another 10% of insects of that time were represented by beetles and dragonflies.
Some of the contemporaries of cockroaches are cricket-cockroaches. Scientists argue about which order these creatures should be attributed: to the actual cockroaches or crickets. Hence the double name. They were wingless, with a body elongated up to 20 mm, a large head and long antennae. Cockroach crickets lived up to several years and preferred to settle in damp places under stones, in tree stumps, and also in caves. They were active at night, eating plant foods and attacking other insects. Today 39 modern species of cockroach crickets are known. They are found from Japan to North America. In Russia, these ancient creatures live in the forests in the south of Primorye - Grylloblatta djakonovi and Galloisiana kurentzovi were found there.
Another ancient creature that has survived to this day is the ‘vesnyanka fly’. Scientists have found an imprint of a ‘vesnyanka fly’ born about 298 million years ago in Perm. Unlike cockroach crickets, ‘vesnyanka flies’ flew. The length of the fore wing of fossil species did not exceed 15–17 mm. These insects lived on the banks of water bodies: their larvae grew in fresh water for 2–2.5 years and fed on mosquito larvae and small invertebrates. Today, there are a great many ‘vesnyanka flies’ with us: there are more than 3 thousand species of them.
With rare exceptions, insects do not live long. Confirmed long-livers are cicadas and termites queens, they can live 17-25 years. But some species spend a few hours at all stages of life. For example, adult mayflies live 1–3 days, fruit flies - 10 days, and butterflies - on average a couple of weeks. Generations of insects quickly adapt to new conditions. This quality helped them become one of the most tenacious classes of creatures.
For example, cockroaches were one of the first insects on the planet not only surviving all global catastrophes, but also flourishing at the present time. The ancient cockroach species had four folding wings, well-developed eyes, six legs, a system of olfactory antennae, and an exoskeleton. They could absorb both plant and animal food. According to scientists, 359 million years ago cockroaches accounted for about 90% of all insect species. Another 10% of insects of that time were represented by beetles and dragonflies.
Some of the contemporaries of cockroaches are cricket-cockroaches. Scientists argue about which order these creatures should be attributed: to the actual cockroaches or crickets. Hence the double name. They were wingless, with a body elongated up to 20 mm, a large head and long antennae. Cockroach crickets lived up to several years and preferred to settle in damp places under stones, in tree stumps, and also in caves. They were active at night, eating plant foods and attacking other insects. Today 39 modern species of cockroach crickets are known. They are found from Japan to North America. In Russia, these ancient creatures live in the forests in the south of Primorye - Grylloblatta djakonovi and Galloisiana kurentzovi were found there.
Another ancient creature that has survived to this day is the ‘vesnyanka fly’. Scientists have found an imprint of a ‘vesnyanka fly’ born about 298 million years ago in Perm. Unlike cockroach crickets, ‘vesnyanka flies’ flew. The length of the fore wing of fossil species did not exceed 15–17 mm. These insects lived on the banks of water bodies: their larvae grew in fresh water for 2–2.5 years and fed on mosquito larvae and small invertebrates. Today, there are a great many ‘vesnyanka flies’ with us: there are more than 3 thousand species of them.
