Bugs+-+Joshua

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= = = = =‍All insects have three body parts: a head, thorax, and abdomen. The head contains the mouth parts, the eyes, and the antennae. The thorax has the muscles and attachments for the legs and wings, if any. The abdomen has digestive and respiratory functions.=

====Insects need oxygen, just like you and me, but they don't get their oxygen by breathing through their mouth or by using lungs. They don't even have lungs! Their oxygen gets to the cells of their body through tiny tubes called **trachea**. These tubes connect every single cell in their body to the air outside the insect's body, through tiny holes called **spiracles**, located primarily along the sides of the abdomen. In the example above of a grasshopper, the first and third segments of the thorax have a spiracle on each side. Another eight pairs of spiracles are arranged in a line on either side of the abdomen.====



We have our skeleton inside of our body (**endoskeleton**), but insects have theirs on the outside. This format for body support is called an **exoskeleton** and has been very successful for them, but their "skeleton" cannot grow. Insects shed their skeletons several times in their lifetime, when they have grown too big for their "skins".