Insects surround us everywhere. Their presence is so familiar to the eye that people sometimes simply do not notice them.

Is it possible to tell something fascinating and little-known about creatures that are present everywhere, and usually cause not the most positive emotions? It turns out that a lot of interesting things can be said about insects.

Insects and their evolution

The first creatures to be attributed to insects appeared on the planet about 400 million years ago. They evolved, forming modern multi-million diversity, while other creatures appeared and died out. Throughout the entire existence of the planet, there have been periods of mass extinctions associated with various environmental disasters - meteorite falls, mass volcanic activity.

However, insects with their powerful adaptive mechanisms were able to successfully survive difficult times. In total, insects survived 5 global extinctions, including those when more than 90 percent of the species diversity of the planet died.

Yes, today on Earth there are no three-meter scorpions and other terrifying creatures that existed in the past, but the species diversity is so great that scientists recognize one truly amazing moment. At least 5 million insect species have not yet been discovered and studied.

The secret to insect vitality

What helps insects survive in difficult conditions? And why can they hide so successfully as to remain unexplored? Considering such issues, it is necessary to note a number of facts.So, insects can have very small sizes - the smallest creatures do not exceed 0.2 mm. Very prolific - for example, a female cockroach brings up to 2 million eggs annually.

Insects are unpretentious to food and moisture sources - there are moths that can drink even the tear fluid of animals, and most predatory insects do not disdain even representatives of their own species. They are so viable that a cockroach can live without a head for a whole week, and only then it dies from exhaustion. Ticks may not eat 9 years, and scorpions - 2 years. In adverse conditions, many insects simply fall into suspended animation in order to return to activity again when the situation changes. All this and much more makes them much more viable than most other representatives of the terrestrial fauna.

Collective Insect Mind

Insects can live in colonies. Termites, ants and bees, as well as wasps, hornets, are exclusively collective creatures. If you isolate an ant or a bee from a common swarm, the creature will simply perish. They have a womb heading the colony and having the right to reproduce, soldiers and workers.

Bed bugs are an interesting example of the collective existence of insects - they, unlike the same ants, can live alone, but as soon as a group is formed, they show a desire to stick together, forming a common nest. Some aspects of the behavior of insects capable of collective existence are still unclear to scientists.

Interesting facts about the structure of insect bodies

If most mammals, or, say, birds, are arranged in a similar way, then insects can have a variety of anomalies in the body structure. So, grasshoppers have ears on their feet, and butterflies have gustatory organs. In all insects, the eyes have a facet device, they consist of a large number of separate lenses - for example, in a dragonfly of 20 thousand in each eye.

The eye of many insects is much larger than a pair - for example, there are 5 of them. Insects for the most part do not know how to turn their heads like birds or animals do, the only exception is the mantis.

Insects and their diet

More than 1 3 of all insects are predators, choosing as their source of food their own kind, or more highly developed creatures. At the same time, scavengers among insects are much smaller than predators.

Thus, insects can surprise you with many things. They are distinguished by their unusual anatomy, they are one of the oldest creatures on Earth, they demonstrate amazing survival mechanisms, they are perfect in their own way: the creatures that are found petrified in amber practically do not differ from modern ones, although their age can be millions of years.