Insect Basics

All insect adults have 6 legs, but the larval stage can have many or no legs
Arthropods other than insects can have more than six legs (spiders, mites, ticks, harvestmen, etc. have eight legs; millipedes, centipedes, and sow bugs have more than eight legs)

	antennae: attached to head; used to sense the environment head, thorax, abdomen: major body segments of all insects wings: used to fly legs: used to walk, run or crawl
	On an insect that doesn't have wings, the abdominal segments (arrow) are visible.

Helpful Hints about Beetles

This arrow marks the division between the pair of elytra, the hard, shell-like outer wings of most beetles.

beetle in flight, photo by Erich G. Vallery, USDA Forest Service - SRS-4552, Bugwood.org

During fight, the elytra lift and allow the second pair of wings to work.

How to Tell Ants from Termites

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Photo: USDA Forest Service Archive, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

This is important because if you are trying to exterminate termites, you need to know that you don't have ants instead.

Sometimes ants and termites have wings, and sometimes they don't.

Ants and termites are social insects, and only the queens and males ever have wings. Soldier and Worker ants and termites (all sterile females), never have wings. You are likely to see only worker ants and termites, although at times large swarms of winged ants and termites will gather when they are looking for mates.