|Although many people call all insects "bugs," entomologists use the name "bug" to refer only to insects in the order Hemiptera.|
True bugs have all the general characteristics of typical insects. They are divided into three regions: head, thorax and abdomen. The thorax bears legs and wings; the head bears eyes, antennae and mouthparts. However, a true bug (Order Hemiptera) is very different from a grasshopper (Order Orthoptera) which you already studied in Unit I.
Notice that in the true bug, the mouthparts are formed into a beak extending from the bottom side of the head. It is adapted for taking liquid food. The grasshopper has chewing mouthparts adapted for eating solid food. In the bug illustrated in this exercise, the pronotum is large and flat and not saddle-shaped like on the grasshopper. (In other orders of insects behind the pronotum is a triangular-shaped piece, called the scutellum.) On true bugs the scutellum is easy to see, but in the grasshopper it is hidden under the pronotum. The front wing of a typical true bug is different from that of other insect orders. The area of the front wing next to the body is thickened or leathery, and the end area of the wing is membranous. The front wing of a bug is also called a hemelytron (meaning half wing). When a bug is not flying, its front wings lie flat over its back, and the membranous parts overlap each other. The hind wings are hidden under the front wings.
Labeling the True Bug Exercise
Answers to Labeling the True Bug Exercise