The features of an insect’s mouthparts canhelp identify which order it belongs to

The features of an insect’s mouthparts canhelp identify which order it belongs to,while also providing clues about how it evolved and what it feeds on.The chewing mouthpart is the most common.It’s also the most primitive—all other mouthparts are thought to have started out looking like this onebefore evolving into something different.It features a pair of jaws called mandibleswith toothed inner edges that cut up and crush solid foods,like leaves or other insects.You can find this mouthpart on ants from the Hymenoptera order,grasshoppers and crickets of the Orthoptera order,dragonflies of the Odonata order,and beetles of the Coleoptera order.The piercing-sucking mouthpart consists ofa long, tube-like structure called a beak.This beak can pierce plant or animal tissueto suck up liquids like sap or blood.It can also secrete saliva with digestive enzymesthat liquefy food for easier sucking.Insects in the Hemiptera order have piercing-sucking mouthpartsand include bed bugs,cicadas,aphids,and leafhoppers.