What exactly are insects?

1 Watch the video and observe

The Wasp and the Cake Crumbs

Video: Hamsterkiste

There are many different kinds of insects. More than 48,000 different animal species have been recorded in Germany, including 33,000 insect species alone. So seven out of every 10 animals here are insects.


An insect’s body is clearly divided into a head, thorax and abdomen. Insects have six legs, three on each side of the thorax. This makes them easy to distinguish from spiders, which have eight legs. The head has a pair of antennae, large compound eyes and mouthparts. The antennae are used for smelling, tasting and touching. Most insects have one or two pairs of wings attached to the thorax. However, some species have no wings. An insect’s body is covered by an outer shell made of chitin.


Insects include bees, beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, ants, cicadas and flies, for example. The largest insects found here are the emperor dragonfly and the stag beetle. Both grow up to 9 cm long. The smallest insects are tiny fairy wasps, which grow to just 0.4 millimetres long, and featherwing beetles, which reach a size of half a millimetre.


Insects have very different diets: bees, wasps and butterflies feed on nectar, pollen, leaves or wood. Some insects nibble on plants or hunt and eat other animals. Ants, for example, eat both plant and animal matter. Bloodsuckers such as mosquitoes feed on blood. Some species prefer dead organic matter. An insect’s diet depends largely on its species, and many are specialized to eat particular foods.


Insects reproduce by laying eggs. Larvae hatch from the eggs, and after some time these develop into adult insects. In some insects, the larva first becomes a pupa.


Here is a small selection of insects.

2 ✍️ Fill in the correct words and write out the text

  1. There are ___ different animal species in Germany.
  2. Of these, ___ are insect species.
  3. An insect’s body is divided into 3 parts: ___, ___ and ___.
  4. Insects have ___ legs.
  5. The antennae are used for ___, ___ and ___.
  6. The bodies of insects are protected by a covering made of ___.
  7. Examples of insects include: ___.
  8. The largest insects that live here are the ___. and the ___.
  9. Ants feed on, for example, ___.
  10. Insects reproduce by ___.