Scientists--and you!--can identify insects by noticing differences in their body parts. Body parts are also used to describe how insects function and behave.
This exercise will give you some practice in locating parts of a typical insect. First, read the following information about insect body parts. Then name the numbered parts of the grasshopper drawing. There are a few parts that look different or are not present on other insects. If you have a grasshopper specimen, try to find the described parts on it.
All insects have three main body regions: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.
Almost all insects have a pronotum covering the top of the first segment of the thorax, but it is usually not as big as on a grasshopper. On the grasshopper it looks like a saddle behind the head. Near the base of the middle leg, there is a small breathing hole called the thoracic spiracle. Insects breathe through spiracles and not through their mouths.
The legs of different insects are adapted to do different things. The legs of some insects are adapted for swimming, burrowing, jumping, or grasping. From looking at the form of the grasshopper's hind leg, how do you suppose they are used?
Label the parts of the grasshopper
Answers to Labeling the Grasshopper