Class Summary
Future entomologists will get an in-depth look of insect anatomy in this 8-week series. As an entomologist, I love fostering the love of insects in students. Each session will include visuals from my microscope camera along with detailed descriptions of insect anatomy and the purpose of their adaptations. 

Learners will be encouraged to take notes on what we are learning through an illustration journal. If learners keep all of their pages together, they will have a journal of insect anatomy and the perfect collegiate study guide. I look forward to meeting the next generation of entomologists. 

Also, if none of the scheduled times work for your student, PLEASE request a time that works for you. Auto-scheduling has been set up and will allow you to create any class within my availability. Yes, I will teach this series to 1 student. 

Weekly Summaries
Week 1: Exoskeleton Features
Our first class will introduce insects as they relate to other arthropods. The exoskeleton will be the focus of this class. We will cover the layers of the insect exoskeleton, special features, terms for different textures, and the process of molting. 

Week 2: Head Features
We will be going over head shapes and terms for a variety of features on insect heads including the ocellus, gena, frons, and clypeus. 

Week 3: Antennae Types & Senses
There are many different forms of insect antenna but they all have a scape, pedicel, and flagellum. The third week we will discuss a variety of insect antenna along with both common and scientific names for the forms. 

Week 4: Mouthparts & Adaptations
The basic insect chewing mouthpart has a labrum, maxilla, mandible, and labium. We will be breaking down the insect mouth into its basic parts and then looking at variations. These variations allow for piercing/sucking mouthparts, lapping mouthparts, straw-like mouthparts (proboscis), and a variety of unique forms that allow for insects to have varied feeding habits. 

Week 5: Leg Anatomy
The basic insect leg parts have similar names as bones in the human leg. An insect has a femur, tibia, and tarsi. During this session, we will briefly go over the parts of the leg and then look at how those parts are adapted to become different leg types. We will be going over both the common and scientific names of the insect leg types.  

Week 6: Wing Venation & Types
An insect can have either 2 or 4 wings depending on what type of insect you are referring to. The main wing types are: membranous, hemelytra, tegmina, and elytra. We will be discussing the purposes of these wing types and we will take a deep dive into insect wing venation naming. 

Week 7: Abdominal Appendages
This is the last week of insect anatomy before we put it all together and summarize the orders. We will be covering final appendages and features of the abdomen including: cerci, spiracles, stingers, and ovipositors. 

Week 8: Insect Orders
We will be using the adaptations that we learned over the last 7 weeks to cover the 28 accepted insect orders.