mouthparts
Bug feeding apparatus
Mouthparts are the appendages around an insect's or arthropod's mouth, adapted for feeding.
Different species have mouthparts specialized for biting, chewing, piercing, or sucking—mandibles for beetles, proboscises for butterflies, stylets for mosquitoes.
The term appears almost exclusively in biological contexts: The larva's mouthparts are designed for scraping algae.
Paired arthropod mouthparts
- proboscisElongated animal head appendage
- maxillaeUpper facial bones
- labrumSocket-encircling fibrocartilage
- labiumLip-like anatomical structure
palps · stylets · hypopharynx · rostrum · piercing · sucking · siphoning · chewing
mandibles
Paired arthropod mouthparts
- proboscisElongated animal head appendage
- maxillaeUpper facial bones
- labrumSocket-encircling fibrocartilage
labium · palps · stylets · hypopharynx · rostrum · piercing · sucking · siphoning · chewing · grinding
mandible
Lower facial bone
palate · lips · jaw · pharynx · beak · fangs · radula · baleen · oral cavity · mastication
chewing
Crushing food orally
piercing · filter-feeding · rasping · tearing · crushing · lapping · probing · nectar · prey · detritus
- arthropod partsleg, legs, antennae, claws, claw
- bug partsantennae, thorax, abdomen, head, legs
- insect anatomyabdomen, antennae, thorax, exoskeleton, head
- arachnid anatomyspinnerets, pedicel, carapace, book lungs, cephalothorax
- flea biologyexoskeleton
- Termitestermites, termite mound, termite queen, termite colonies, termite swarm