What is the difference between spiders and insects

Spiders belong to the class of Arachnida. On the other hand, the insects belong to the class of Insecta. We also look into the structures of these organisms. For insects, they have three pairs of legs or six legs.

On the other hand, spiders have four pairs or eight legs. Spiders and insects also have a difference when it comes to their major body parts. Spiders only have two main body parts while insects have three main body parts. Insects have their head, the thorax, and the abdomen. As for the spiders, they already have a combined head and thorax. This combined thorax and head is called a cephalothorax, but they do still have an abdomen.

There are also differences between spiders and insects when it comes to their minor body parts. The insects use their mandibles to consume food. As for spiders, they use their chelicerae to consume their food. Insects have their antennae while spiders have their pedipalpi. Insects have several parts in their head, namely, a pedicel, a scape, a labrum, a clypeus, and frons while the spider has none of these parts on its head.

But when it comes to the limbs, spiders have more parts than insects. Typically, two pairs of wings are connected to the thorax. Three pairs of legs are connected to the thorax. The body is covered with an exoskeleton, which is made up of chitin. An insect is shown in figure 3. Insects undergo complete metamorphosis. The three types of feeding mechanisms of insects are chewing, sucking, and sponging. Chewing insects have mouthparts such as mandibles, maxilla, and labium.

Sucking insects are called true bugs. Sponging insects secrete saliva on the solid food, and the solution is drawn up by the mouth. Spiders: Spiders are eight-legged, predatory arachnids, consisting of two body segments: cephalothorax and abdomen. Insects: Insects are small arthropods who possess six legs and one or two pairs of wings.

Spiders: Spiders belong to the class Arachnida under the phylum Arthropoda. Insects: Insects belong to the class Insecta under the phylum Arthropoda. Insects: Insects are mostly terrestrial. Some insects can be aquatic and parasitic. Spiders: The body of spiders is divided into cephalothorax and abdomen. Insects: The body of insects is divided into head, thorax, and abdomen. Spiders: Spiders have four pairs of appendages.

Insects: Insects have three pairs of appendages. Insects: Insects possess mandibles, proboscis, and maxilla. Spiders: Spiders sense through their cuticles.

Spiders: Spiders have one to six pairs of simple eyes. Spiders: Respiration of spiders occurs through trachea and book lungs simultaneously.

Insects: Respiration of insects occurs through the trachea. Insects: Insects feed on both plant and animal materials. Spiders: Spiders undergo incomplete metamorphosis. Insects include ants, bees, beetles, butterflies, cicadas, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, fleas, flies, grasshoppers, lightning bugs, mosquitos, moths, termites and wasps. Arachnids have over , species that include harvestmen, mites, scorpions , spiders and ticks. In case you were wondering about millipedes or centipedes, they actually fall under the class of myriapods, which are wingless bugs with tons of body segments that are usually carried by a pair of legs.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. All rights reserved. Web development by Promotion LA. Another similarity is that they both have a fair share of poisonous species, such as scorpions. The Difference Between an Insect and an Arachnid The main difference between the two is that arachnids have eight legs four pairs of legs while insects have six three pairs of legs.