Types of Insect Antennas

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The antennas or commonly called feelers are one of the most characteristics features of insects’ parts.  They are elongated appendages in various length and shape projected from the insect’s head. Essentially a sensory organ, the insect antennas give them the ability to detect chemical and movement. The simplest type of antenna is the filiform which consist of many more or less the same sized subunits.  

insect, anobiidae, antenna, bug, feeler, pectinate
This beetle of the Anobiidae family displays a pectinate antenna

A wide array of antenna forms is found as a result of different modification of the subunits. A pectinate antenna, for example, has each subunit prolonged at one side, giving rise to a comb like appearance. In many insects of the order Lepidoptera which include moths and butterflies, the antenna gradually becomes broader at the tip making it looks like a club or knob (clavate).

insect antenna types, clavate antenna, Lepidoptera, butterfly antenna, insect parts, insect head
The clavate antenna of a butterfly ended in a knob

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