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The Respiratory System

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IMMS’ General Textbook of Entomology

Abstract

In the vast majority of insects respiration takes place by means of internal air-tubes known as tracheae These ramify through the organs of the body and its appendages, the finest branches being termed tracheoles. The air generally enters the tracheae through paired, usually lateral, openings termed spiracles, which are segmentally arranged along the thorax and abdomen. More rarely the spiracles are closed or wanting, respiration in such cases being cutaneous. In the immature stages of many aquatic insects special respiratory organs known as gills or branchiae are present, and these may or may not co-exist with open spiracles. The respiratory organs of insects are always derived from ectoderm: the tracheae are developed from solid ingrowths or tubular invaginations of that layer and the gills arise as hollow outgrowths. Histologically, both are composed of a layer of cuticle, the epidermis and usually a basement membrane, all directly continuous with similar layers forming the general body-wall. All or most of the cuticular lining of the tracheo-spiracular system is usually shed at ecdysis. A tracheal system is absent in most Collembola, some Protura and some endoparasitic Hymenopteran and Dipteran larvae.

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  1. Imperial College, University of London, UK

    O. W. Richards M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S. (Emeritus Professor of Zoology and Applied Entomology) & R. G. Davies M.Sc. (Reader in Entomology)

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Richards, O.W., Davies, R.G. (1977). The Respiratory System. In: IMMS’ General Textbook of Entomology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6514-3_13

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