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insect: Quick Facts

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News •

Insect-inspired flying robot bounces back after collisions • Oct. 28, 2026, 7:40 AM ET (Tech Xplore)
Bizarre insect from the age of dinosaurs had a mouth twice its body length • Oct. 18, 2026, 10:17 AM ET (Earth.com)

Facts

Also Known As Insecta

Photos and Videos

Illustration showing a variety of adult insects, each labeled with its common name and order, including walkingstick, earwig, stonefly, tree cricket, dragonfly, female scale, cat flea, thrips, sucking louse, thysanuran, ant, scarab beetle, stinkbug, mosquito, and cabbage butterfly, highlighting their diverse shapes and sizes.
A paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus) with black and yellow striped body and long legs stands on bright green leaves.
European hornet
horse fly
Eastern tailed blue butterfly
bombardier beetle
African goliath beetle
A common walkingstick insect, Diapheromera femorata, camouflaged on a green leaf with surrounding foliage in the background.
Green drake mayfly
Common Eastern firefly (Photinus) with a black body, yellow-edged wing covers, and a reddish area behind its head, perched on a green blade of grass.
Vintage illustrations of colorful moths.
Learn how the foxglove flower has coevolved with the bumblebee to increase pollination efficacy
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Related Topics and References

Topics
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Key People

Anna Botsford Comstock.
Anna Botsford Comstock
American illustrator and writer
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Sir Vincent Wigglesworth
British entomologist
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Edward Fred Knipling
American entomologist
Swammerdam, Jan
Jan Swammerdam
Dutch naturalist
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Leland Ossian Howard
American entomologist
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William Morton Wheeler
American entomologist
Bates, H.W.
H.W. Bates
British naturalist and explorer
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Charles Valentine Riley
American entomologist
Réaumur, detail of an engraving by J. Blanchon
René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
French entomologist
Say, Thomas
Thomas Say
American naturalist
Latreille, detail of an engraving after a portrait, 1823
Pierre-André Latreille
French zoologist
Lyonnet, detail of an oil painting by Hendrik van Limborch, 1742; in a private collection
Pierre Lyonnet
Dutch naturalist and engraver
Johann Christian Fabricius, engraving by G.L. Lahde, 1805
Johann Christian Fabricius
Danish entomologist
Fabre, Jean Henri
Jean Henri Fabre
French entomologist
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John Henry Comstock
American entomologist
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Charles De Geer
Swedish entomologist
Merian, Maria Sibylla
Maria Sibylla Merian
German-born naturalist and artist

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