Respiratory system in insects. Find out how insects breathe. Insect respiration Why do insects not suffocate in flight?
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How do insects breathe, and do they breathe at all? The body structure of the same beetles differs significantly from the anatomy of any mammal. Not all people know about the vital functions of insects, because it is difficult to observe these processes due to the small size of the object itself. However, these questions sometimes come up - for example, when a child puts a caught beetle in a jar and asks how to ensure a long, happy life for it.
So do they breathe, how is the breathing process carried out? Is it possible to close the jar tightly so that the beetle does not run away or suffocate? These questions are asked by many people.
Oxygen, respiration and insect size
Modern insects actually have small sizes. But these are extremely ancient creatures that appeared much earlier than warm-blooded animals, even before dinosaurs. In those days, conditions on the planet were completely different, the composition of the atmosphere was also different. It’s amazing how they were able to survive millions of years, adapt to all the changes that took place on the planet during this time. The heyday of insects is behind us, and at the time when they were at the peak of evolution, they could not be called small.
Interesting fact: Fossilized remains of dragonflies prove that in the past they reached half a meter in size. During the heyday of insects, there were other exceptionally large species.
IN modern world insects cannot reach such sizes, and the largest are tropical individuals - wet, hot climate saturated with oxygen, gives them more possibilities for prosperity. Literally all researchers are convinced that it is insects that are preventing them from thriving on the planet in today’s conditions as they did in the past. respiratory system with its specific device features.
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When classifying insects, they are classified as tracheal-breathing subtypes. This already answers many questions. Firstly, they breathe, and secondly, they do this through the trachea. Arthropods are also classified as gill-breathing and chelicerate, the former including crayfish, and the latter - mites and scorpions. However, let us return to the tracheal system, characteristic of beetles, butterflies, and dragonflies. Their tracheal system is extremely complex; evolution has been polishing it for millions of years. The tracheae are divided into numerous tubes, each tube goes to a specific part of the body - in much the same way as the blood vessels and capillaries of more advanced warm-blooded animals, and even reptiles, disperse throughout the body.
The trachea fills with air, but this is not done at the expense of the nostrils or oral cavity, as in vertebrates. The trachea is filled with spiracles, these are numerous holes that are located on the body of the insect. Special valves are responsible for air exchange, filling these holes with air, and closing them. Each spiracle is supplied by three branches of the trachea, including:
- Ventral for nervous system and abdominal muscles,
- Dorsal for the dorsal muscles and the dorsal vessel, which is filled with hemolymph,
- Visceral, which works on the reproductive and digestive organs.
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At their end, the tracheae turn into tracheoles - very thin tubes that weave around every cell of the insect’s body, providing it with an influx of oxygen. The thickness of the tracheole does not exceed 1 micrometer. This is exactly how the respiratory system of an insect works, due to which oxygen can circulate in its body, reaching every cell.
But only crawling or low-flying insects have such a primitive device. Flyers, such as bees, also have air sacs like those found in birds in addition to their lungs. They are located along the trunks of the trachea; during flight, they are able to contract and swell again to ensure maximum air flow to each of the cells. In addition, waterfowl insects have systems for storing air on the body or under the abdomen in the form of bubbles - this is important for swimming beetles, silverfish, and others.
How do insect larvae breathe?
Most larvae are born with spiracles; this is especially true for insects living on the surface of the earth. Aquatic larvae have something like gills that allow them to breathe underwater. Tracheal gills can be located both on the surface of the body and inside it - even in the intestines. In addition, many larvae are able to obtain oxygen through the entire surface of their body.
Insects do not have lungs. Their main respiratory system is the trachea. The tracheae of insects are communicating air tubes that open outward on the sides of the body with openings called spiracles. The finest branches of the trachea - tracheoles - penetrate the entire body, entwining organs and even penetrating inside some cells. Thus, oxygen is delivered with air directly to the place of its consumption in the cells of the body, and gas exchange is ensured without the participation of the circulatory system. Many insects living in water (aquatic beetles and bedbugs, mosquito larvae and pupae, etc.) must rise to the surface from time to time to capture air, i.e. they also have air breathing. The larvae of mosquitoes, centipedes and some other insects are “suspended” from below to the surface film of water using non-wettable fatty hairs while the air supply in the tracheal system is being renewed. And aquatic beetles - water lovers (Hydrophilidae), diving beetles (Dytiscidae) and bugs, for example, smooth beetles (Notonectidae) - having breathed at the surface, take an additional supply of air with them under the water under the elytra. In insect larvae living in water, wet soil and in plant tissues, skin respiration also plays an important role. The larvae of mayflies, stoneflies, caddis flies and other insects, well adapted to life in water, do not have open spiracles. Oxygen penetrates inside them through the surface of all parts of the body where the integument is quite thin, especially through the surface of leaf-shaped outgrowths, penetrated by a network of blindly ending tracheas. The larvae of bloodworm mosquitoes (Chironomus) also breathe through the skin, over the entire surface of the body. How do insects breathe? and got the best answer Answer from Elizabeth[guru] Answer from DOLPHINE[guru] Answer from Z.O.Ya[guru] Answer from Evsyukov Alexander[guru] Answer from User deleted[active] U insects Living in water, breathing occurs in two ways. It depends on the structure of their tracheal system. Many aquatic organisms have a closed tracheal system in which the spiracles do not function. It is closed and there are no “exits” to the outside. Breath carried out with the help of gills - outgrowths of the body into which the trachea enters and branches abundantly. Thin tracheoles come so close to the surface of the gills that oxygen begins to diffuse through them. This allows some insects living in water (larvae and nymphs of caddisflies, stoneflies, mayflies, dragonflies) to carry out gas exchange. During their transition to terrestrial existence (transformation into adults), the gills are reduced, and the tracheal system turns from closed to open. In other cases, the respiration of aquatic insects is carried out atmospheric air. These insects have an open tracheal system. They take in air through their spiracles, floating to the surface, and then sink under the water until it is used up. In this regard, they have two structural features: Other features are also possible. For example, in the larva of a swimming beetle, the spiracles are located at the posterior end of the body. When she needs to “take a breath,” she swims to the surface, takes vertical position“upside down” and exposes the part where the stigmata are located. In the larva of a common mosquito, a respiratory tube extends upward and backward from the 8th and 9th segments of the abdomen connected together, at the end of which the main tracheal trunks open. When the tube is placed above the water, the insect receives air through the gaps in the trunks. An almost identical, but more pronounced tube is found in the larvae of Eristalis. This formation is expressed so strongly in them that for its presence and grey colour In the insect itself, such larvae are called “rats.” Depending on whether it is at greater or less depth, the rat’s tail can change its length. (photo) The breathing of adult swimmers is interesting. They have developed elytra, bending downwards and inwards towards the body on the sides. As a result, when floating to the surface with the elytra folded, the beetle captures an air bubble, which enters the sub-elite space. This is where the spiracles open. This is how the swimmer renews its oxygen reserves. The swimmer of the genus Dyliscus can stay under water for 8 minutes between surfacings, Hyphidrus for about 14 minutes, and Hydroporus for up to half an hour. After the first frost, the beetles also remain viable under the ice. They find air bubbles underwater and swim over them so as to “take” them under the elytra. In the water lover, air is stored between the hairs located on the ventral part of the body. They are not wetted, so a supply of air is formed between them. When the insect swims underwater, its ventral part appears silvery due to the air cushion. In aquatic insects that breathe atmospheric air, the small reserves of oxygen that they capture from the surface should be consumed very quickly, but this does not happen. Why? The fact is that oxygen diffuses from water into air bubbles, and carbon dioxide partially escapes from them into the water. Thus, by taking air under water, the insect receives a supply of oxygen, which is replenished by itself for some time. The process is highly temperature dependent. For example, the Plea bug can live in boiled water 5-6 hours at warm temperature and 3 days in cold conditions. Before leaving the house in rainy weather, you need to spray your shoes with a hydrophobic agent. At heavily polluted, we suggest washing shoes with special substances. 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How do insects breathe?
Insects do not have lungs. Their main respiratory system is the trachea. The tracheae of insects are communicating air tubes that open outward on the sides of the body with openings called spiracles. The finest branches of the trachea - tracheoles - penetrate the entire body, entwining organs and even penetrating inside some cells. Thus, oxygen is delivered with air directly to the place of its consumption in the cells of the body, and gas exchange is ensured without the participation of the circulatory system.
Many insects living in water (aquatic beetles and bedbugs, mosquito larvae and pupae, etc.) must rise to the surface from time to time to capture air, i.e. they also have air breathing. The larvae of mosquitoes, centipedes and some other insects are “suspended” from below to the surface film of water using non-wettable fatty hairs while the air supply in the tracheal system is being renewed.
And aquatic beetles - water lovers (Hydrophilidae), diving beetles (Dytiscidae) and bugs, for example, smooth beetles (Notonectidae) - having breathed at the surface, take an additional supply of air with them under the water under the elytra.
In insect larvae living in water, in moist soil and in plant tissues, skin respiration also plays an important role.
The larvae of mayflies, stoneflies, caddis flies and other insects, well adapted to life in water, do not have open spiracles. Oxygen penetrates inside them through the surface of all parts of the body where the integument is quite thin, especially through the surface of leaf-shaped outgrowths, penetrated by a network of blindly ending tracheas. The larvae of bloodworm mosquitoes (Chironomus) also breathe through the skin, over the entire surface of the body. Source: link
Insects do not have lungs, and their body is supplied with oxygen through microscopic pores in the chitinous shell. The chitinous shell is a kind of distributed lung. The breathing of insects resembles the breathing of mammals; their tracheal tubes quickly compress and unclench, providing a 50% renewal of oxygen within one second (this is, for example, the indicator of a person performing physical exercise medium intensity
In insects, the respiratory organs are represented by tracheae, which begin with openings - spiracles, through which air enters the trachea and through their branches into individual cells. The openings of the spiracles are located on the lateral surfaces of the chest and abdomen. The opening and closing of the spiracles is regulated by a special closure apparatus. Ventilation of the trachea is facilitated by contraction of the abdomen. Insects living in water - water beetles and bedbugs - periodically rise to the surface of the water to store air. Air is captured by the hairs of the limbs. The larvae of many aquatic insects breathe oxygen dissolved in water. In dragonfly larvae that live in water bodies, respiration occurs due to the circulation of water in the hindgut.
Many insects breathe in a very unusual and interesting way. If you look closely at their abdominal cavity, you can see many small holes, or pores. Each of these pores is the entrance to a tube called the trachea. It functions just like a human breathing tube, or windpipe! Thus, insects breathe the same way as we do, with the only difference being that they may have hundreds of respiratory tubes located on their abdominal cavity. In small creatures such as insects, these tubes do not take up much space. But can you imagine what would happen if humans had the same respiratory system? There would hardly be enough space for the rest of the organs!
What a horror! Holes in the chitin, examine the abdominal cavity... Do you have any idea what you're talking about? In insects, invaginations of the ectodorm (i.e., the outer integument) form into the body in the form of branching tubes called trachea. The openings of the trachea are usually located on the sides of the body. In many beetles they are mainly in the back. In wasps and bees, some pairs of trichaea are located in the head, others are dispersed throughout the body. The feeding ends with the smallest tubes - tracheoles, which are filled with liquid. The blood of insects is practically incapable of carrying oxygen, so the tracheoles approach the internal organs. Large tracheas have rings that give them rigidity, so they are not capable of contraction and the movement of gases in them is not forced. Some larvae that offend in water have the so-called. gills, but the question of their participation in respiration is quite controversial. Many consider them organs that maintain salt balance.
All living creatures must breathe in order not to die. The process of breathing is simply the inhalation of air to obtain oxygen and the exhalation of waste. The air we exhale no longer contains oxygen; there is more carbon dioxide and water vapor. The oxygen we inhale is needed to “burn” certain foods so that the body can digest them. Waste containing water vapor and carbon dioxide, are partially destroyed by the body, and partially exhaled. The simplest form respiration is probably possessed by jellyfish and most worms. They have no respiratory organs at all. Oxygen dissolved in water is absorbed through their skin, and dissolved carbon dioxide is expelled through the same route. That's all that can be said about their breathing. Earthworms are creatures with more complex structure- there is a special liquid - blood, which carries oxygen from the skin to the internal organs and carries carbon dioxide back. By the way, frogs sometimes also breathe in this way, using the skin as a respiratory organ. But she also has lungs, which she uses in case of lack of oxygen. Many insects breathe in a very unusual and interesting way. If you look closely at their abdominal cavity, you can see many small holes, or pores. Each of these pores is the entrance to a tube called the trachea. It functions just like a human breathing tube, or windpipe! Thus, insects breathe the same way as we do, with the only difference being that they may have hundreds of respiratory tubes located on their abdominal cavity. In small creatures such as insects, these tubes do not take up much space. But can you imagine what would happen if humans had the same respiratory system? There would hardly be enough space for the rest of the organs! By the way, the breathing rate (that is, how often we inhale air) largely depends on the size of the creature itself. The larger the animal, the slower it breathes. For example, an elephant inhales about 10 times per minute, and a mouse about 200!