Taxa

Insecta

Class

Citation Formats

General Reference

Nature Atlas. "Insecta." Accessed September 8, 2026. https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/class-insecta.

APA Style

Nature Atlas. (n.d.). Insecta. Retrieved September 8, 2026, from https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/class-insecta

BibTeX

@misc{natureatlas-insecta,
  author = {Nature Atlas},
  title = {Insecta},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/class-insecta},
  note = {Accessed September 8, 2026}
}

The insects: arthropods with a three-part body (head, thorax, abdomen), three pairs of legs, and, in most species, one or two pairs of wings as adults. Insecta is the single most species-rich class of any kind of organism on Earth, and more species of beetle alone have been described than every non-insect animal phylum combined.

Facts

Disputed

Member Species/Taxa Count

1,000,000 1

Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.

Taxonomic Rank

Class 1

Scientific Name

Insecta 1

Cross-Tradition Connections