What is the function of labium?
The labia majora (singular: labium majus) are a pair of rounded folds of skin and adipose that are part of the external female genitalia. Their function is to cover and protect the inner, more delicate and sensitive structures of the vulva, such as the labia minora, clitoris, urinary orifice, and vaginal orifice.
What is the function of the insect maxillae?
Maxillae (singular Maxilla) are part of an insect’s mouthparts. The maxilla are paired and arranged behind the mandibles. Maxillae usually end in a sharp point and so the maxillae act like pincers. They are used to hold and manipulate food so that it can be chewed or sliced by the mandibles.
What are mandibles and maxillae?
Mandibles – hard, powerful cutting jaws. Maxillae – ‘pincers’ which are less powerful than the mandibles. They are used to steady and manipulate the food. They have a five segmented palp which is sensory and often concerned with taste. Labium – the lower cover, often referred to as the lower lip.
What is meant by Labium?
1 : any of the folds at the margin of the vulva — compare labia majora, labia minora. 2 : the lower lip of a labiate corolla. 3a : a lower mouthpart of an insect that is formed by the second pair of maxillae united in the middle line. b : a liplike part of various invertebrates.
Which insect takes its food after liquefying?
Some sucking insects, like houseflies and fruit flies, are classified as sponging insects. Their mouth looks like a sponge at the end of a short trunk called a proboscis. Houseflies generally eat liquid food, but they are also capable of liquefying solid food with their saliva.
What is biting and chewing insect?
examples of biting and chewing insect Some common biting and chewing insect pests are beetles, grasshoppers, termites, crickets, caterpillars of moths and butter flies, locust, army worms and so on. They feed on many crops such as okro, maize, rice, vegetables, cassava and fruit trees.
Do insects have tongues?
Instead of having a tongue, teeth, and gums, insects have “mouthparts” (scientists aren’t the most creative individuals when it comes to naming things). Mouthparts are shaped differently in different insects. For example, some mouthparts resemble straws, and bugs use them to suck up their food.
Is labrum upper lip?
The labrum is a flap-like structure that lies immediately in front of the mouth in almost all extant Euarthropoda. In entomology, the labrum amounts to the “upper lip” of an insect mouth, the corresponding “lower lip” being the labium.
How are labium and maxillae modified in bees?
In bees, the maxillae and labium have been modified and fused to form a nectar-sucking proboscis. In the order Hemiptera, the true bugs, plant hoppers, etc., the mouthparts have been modified to form a beak for piercing. The labium forms a sheath around a set of stylets that consist of an outer pair of mandibles and an inner pair of maxillae.
Where is the labium located in the Dragonfly mouth?
It is the major component of the floor of the mouth. Typically, together with the maxillae, the labium assists manipulation of food during mastication. Dragonfly nymph feeding on fish that it has caught with its labium and snatched back to the other mouthparts for eating. The labium is just visible from the side, between the front pairs of legs
Where does the maxilla come from in an arthropod?
Maxilla (arthropod mouthpart) Embryologically, the maxillae are derived from the 4th and 5th segment of the head and the maxillary palps; segmented appendages extending from the base of the maxilla represent the former leg of those respective segments. In most cases, two pairs of maxillae are present and in different arthropod groups…
What does the second maxilla do in a millipede?
Millipedes. In millipedes, the second maxillae have been lost, reducing the mouthparts to only the first maxillae which have fused together to form a gnathochilarium, acting as a lower lip to the buccal cavity and the mandibles which have been enlarged and specialized greatly, used for chewing food.