|Although many people call all insects "bugs," entomologists use
the name "bug" to refer only to insects in the order Hemiptera.|
True bugs have all the general characteristics of typical
insects. They are divided into three regions: head, thorax and
abdomen. The thorax bears legs and wings; the head bears eyes,
antennae and mouthparts. However, a true bug (Order Hemiptera)
is very different from a grasshopper (Order Orthoptera) which
you already studied in Unit I. Notice that in the true bug, the
mouthparts are formed into a beak extending from the bottom side
of the head. It is adapted for taking liquid food. The
grasshopper has chewing mouthparts adapted for eating solid
food. In the bug illustrated in this exercise, the pronotum is
large and flat and not saddle-shaped like on the grasshopper.
(In other orders of insects behind the pronotum is a triangular-
shaped piece, called the scutellum.) On true bugs the scutellum
is easy to see, but in the grasshopper it is hidden under the
pronotum. The front wing o