In the tundra, in the desert, and in any other corner of the earth, insects of the Diptera squad are widespread. Representatives of this family have been known to the world since the Jurassic period. Annoying flies, biting mosquitoes are probably familiar to everyone firsthand.
Two-winged squad: general description
Diptera are called invertebrate animals belonging to the class of insects, the characteristic feature of which is the presence of one pair of full wings and the presence of complete metamorphosis. Almost every person learns about such a definition after reading the Biology textbook. Diptera is also a detachment uniting more than one hundred and fifty families and one hundred thousand species of insects. Particularly famous are midges, mosquitoes, flies, horseflies.
Scientists do not classify dipterans as social animals, but there are exceptional cases when representatives of this unit form flocks. Usually these are situations caused by the presence of an attractive aroma of food, convenient location of the territory for mating or relaxation.
But the bulk of dipteran insects prefers solitary existence. Each of them goes through a certain cycle, thanks to which it turns into a full-fledged individual of the Diptera squad. Representatives of this detachment are initially at the egg stage, then pass into the larva, followed by a chrysalis and only then an adult.
At the larval stage, the body of an individual is like a worm without legs. The only protrusion on their body is non-segmented formations on the abdomen. Also, they are characterized by the presence of a mouthpart. An adult adult can live only in airspace. Larvae are not picky in this regard. They are comfortable both in soil, and in water, and in organisms of plants and animals. The adults that make up the Diptera squad feed on nectar and pollen from plants. They are predatory and bloodsucking.
Two-winged squad: reproduction
Larvae and adult representatives of this squad have bright differences in the field of anatomical and physiological structure. The period of acute breeding for a number of diptera insects is not easy. Often males, ready for breeding, create a kind of swarm, the noise of which can attract many females.
The majority of dipterans is oviparous. But in nature there are flies that are characterized by egg production. In this case, the insect lays an egg in which the finally formed dipterous larvae are located. After hatching, they immediately begin to such a process of life as nutrition.
Flies capable of live birth are also found. In this case, there are two options for the outcome of events. At the first, an older larva is born, requiring a certain amount of time for feeding; in the second, the larva is born in full readiness for pupation.
Also, the propagation of dipterans can occur at the larval stage. This phenomenon is called pedogenesis. It is based on the maturation of approximately sixty daughter larvae in the pedogenetic body. Subsidiary larvae emerge through tears in the maternal integument. Propagation under favorable conditions allows insects included in the Diptera order to give up to 10 new generations per year.
External signs of adult dipterans
In size, an adult dipteran insect - an adult - reaches from two to five centimeters in length. Bilateral symmetry is a characteristic feature that distinguishes the Diptera squad from others. The limbs on the body are located on the abdomen in the amount of three pairs. The head of dipteran insects differs in a rounded shape with characteristic huge faceted eyes located on both sides.
The main share of such representatives has a sucking mouth apparatus. In addition to it, there is a sucking-licking and stitching-sucking. In some gadflies, the oral apparatus is underdeveloped. The front membranous wings are attached to the mesothorax. They are better developed than the hind ones and are the main means of flight. A pair of rear-view wings in the process of evolution took the form of club-shaped buzzers and turned into an organ of balance. The legs in the amount of three pairs extend from the chest of the insect included in the Diptera squad. Extremities complement suction cups and claws. It is their presence that allows insects to move along vertical planes.
Internal structure
The hemolymph acts as the liquid medium of the body of the representatives of the Diptera squad. At its core, this substance is similar to blood in the organisms of higher animals. The Diptera squad is characterized by an open circulatory system. That is, all hemolymph representatives come into contact with internal organs. On the back wall of the chest cavity, each representative of the Diptera squad has a thickened and densified spinal vessel. In fact, it is he who performs cardiac functions. The trachea is responsible for breathing in the body of insects. Gas exchange processes are carried out in the abdominal cavity. There is a huge amount of trachea in the vicinity of the aorta. A detachment of insects Diptera is also characterized by the presence of the brain.
Role in nature
Too many insects belonging to the Diptera squad can harm human or animal health. First of all, this is due to the fact that such representatives as mosquitoes, flies, mosquitoes, horseflies and lighters, have the ability to tolerate all kinds of infectious diseases. There are a number of individuals that can harm plants while at the larval stage. In this state, they often parasitize in the human body and in the body of domestic animals. In turn, two-winged representatives of this detachment pollinating plants and acting as soil formers benefit. There are also species of diptera insects, which are destroyers of farmland.
One hundred thousand species of dipterans are combined into several groups:
- mosquitoes and biting midges;
- Tolstoyok and mushroom mosquitoes;
- Butterflies
- centipedes;
- Lioness
- stemming;
- horseflies;
- balls;
- humpbacks;
- gourds;
- dung and house flies;
- gadgets and tahini.
House flies
House flies belong to the family of real flies. They are the owners of a synanthropic organism, which is currently almost impossible to find in nature. An individual of this species is awake mainly during the day. The structure of the fly is distinguished by large faceted dark red eyes. In length, it usually does not exceed eight millimeters. Her body color is gray with characteristic black longitudinal stripes on her chest. Abdomen in the lower part has a yellowish color.
The structure of the female fly is somewhat different from the males. First of all, they have an increased distance between the eyes. Secondly, females are larger in size. Indoor flies are characterized by a licking-sucking mouth apparatus. In this regard, they are not capable of biting the skin and sucking blood. They take only liquids in food. In the case of the consumption of solid food, they have to preliminarily perform the procedure of its dissolution in their own saliva.
The life span of a housefly depends on the temperature of its habitat. In an optimal environment, with a temperature fluctuating around twenty-four degrees Celsius, she is able to live up to twenty days. By the method of reproduction, houseflies are ovipositing. At one time, one individual can lay up to one hundred and twenty eggs. The transformation cycle is complete.
Mosquitoes
Otherwise, they are also called blood-sucking mosquitoes. They belong to the group of long-nosed. Most feed on the juice and nectar of plants. For many, the oral apparatus is also designed to pierce the skin and suck out blood. Each of these types of food is a very important source of energy for this insect.
The mosquito's body is thin, up to fourteen centimeters long. They also have long limbs and narrow, almost transparent wings. Their body color is gray, yellowish or brown. There is a variety of mosquitoes with an abdomen of green or black.
The elongated abdomen is divided into ten segments. A feature of the structure of mosquitoes is that the chest is slightly wider than the abdomen. At the tips of the legs they have a pair of claws. The wings of mosquitoes are scaly, and the antennas are segmented. The type of oral apparatus is piercing-sucking.
A distinctive feature of the female is a long proboscis with stitching bristles. Each insect of this species has a tubular lower lip. It is behind her that the oral apparatus is hiding. There are also several jaws on this lip that allow the mosquito to cut a hole in the skin. After eruption, he immerses the proboscis into the hole formed, through which the blood is sucked. In their development, all mosquitoes go through the entire life cycle from an egg to an adult.
Gadgets
Horseflies occupy an important place in the family of dipterans. Biologists attribute them to a suborder of Short-billed. In their appearance, they are similar to flies, only larger. They have a meaty trunk with sharp and hard stitching and cutting stilettos. The antennae of horseflies stick out forward and consist of four segments. Their eyes are huge and multi-colored. The oral apparatus includes mandibles, jaws, the upper lip and the hypopharynx, and the lower lip with sweeping lobes.
Like most dipterans, horseflies are oviparous. At the egg stage, they have a long shape and gray, black or brown color. Turning into larvae, they brighten and become fusiform. Horsefly pupae are very similar to butterfly pupae. The main distribution area is grazing areas.
The female imago of this insect usually feeds on the blood of warm-blooded animals. Males prefer plant nectar. At one time, the female is able to lay up to one thousand eggs. Horseflies spend the bulk of their lives in the air, flying over various terrain and objects.
Gadgets
In fact, gadflies are all the same flies. They differ in average size. Their larvae lead a parasitic lifestyle on mammals. There are times when they are found in a person in the form of myiasis. Gadfly undergoes a complete transformation before becoming an adult. These two-winged insects spend about one year on the complete cycle of transformation in the subcutaneous space of the animal.
An important characteristic of adults is the lack of nutritional requirements. The fact is that, being a larva, they accumulate the necessary amount of nutrients, the consumption of which occurs at the adult stage. Usually an imago lives from three to twenty days. During its existence, it loses up to a third of its weight.
Mating gadflies occurs annually in the same places. After the male fertilizes the female, she immediately goes in search of an animal suitable for laying eggs. Most preferable for them is the area of the soft wall of the abdomen, groin and the front of the animal's thigh. There are gastric, subcutaneous and abdominal gadfly. The most vulnerable are horses, goats, sheep, donkeys and cattle.
Mistresses
Butterworms, or two-winged butterflies, belong to the suborder of the long-nosed. In fact, these are small mosquitoes having a size of one to four millimeters. In their appearance, they are very reminiscent of miniature and neat butterflies. In total there are almost three thousand species. Butterflies are found in all corners of the globe. Their main variety is seen in the CIS countries. Butterfly larvae prefer to inhabit the rotting remains of plants. Some of them prefer the aquatic environment.
The head of an adult mummy is decorated with a mustache and two eyes. Its small wings are approximately two millimeters in length. The whole body along with the wings has a light hairy coating. Female or silver color is characteristic of female butterflies. They rarely use their wings. The main way to travel is through gusts of wind.
In total, an adult individual of this diptera insect lives two or three weeks. In the process of her life, she usually does not eat at all. To attract the male for mating, the females are able to highlight a special attracting secret. It is worth noting that a similar secret is able to distinguish spider-bolades. This property allows him to attract male bumblebees, who very often bind in his web.
At one time, the bastard can lay one hundred eggs at once. And in just two days, a larva hatches from each egg. Butterfly larvae have a very important positive feature - they are able to eat mucous formations in the inner part of the sewer pipes. Thus they cleanse them. In the apartments of adult mosquitoes, they enter through cracks in the floor, holes in the sewers, clogged sinks and risers. Apartments with high humidity are the most comfortable for them.