Body segmentation of Insect

• Insect have segmented bodies with certain segments fusing to form three usually well defined regions: head, thorax and abdomen.
• The grouping of segments into functional regions is known as tagmosis.
• Head consists of 6 segments . Head comprises of mouthparts, compound eyes, simple eyes (ocelli) and a pair of antennae.
• Thorax consists of 3 segments i.e. prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax, Meso and metathorax are together known as pterothorax.
• All the three thoracic segments possess a pair of legs and meso and meta-thorax each possess one pair of wings.
• Abdomen has 7-11 segments with genital appendages. The 8 and 9 segments in female and 8 segment in male insects are modified to bear genital appendices.
• There are hard, colored and complex plates in each segments of insect body which is called sclerites.
• The sclerites present on dorsal side is called tergides,Lateral side is called pleurites and Ventral side is called sternites.
• Segments except in head (6 segments fused together to form a capsule) joint together with a flexible soft and white membrane called inter segmental membrane.