page_title: Head
section_title: Insects
hierarchical_section_title: Head / Other animals / Arthropods / Insects
caption_attribution_description: Dominican Republic
context_page_description: A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste, respectively. Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do, regardless of size.
  Heads develop in animals by an evolutionary trend known as cephalization. In bilaterally symmetrical animals, nervous tissues concentrate at the anterior region, forming structures responsible for information processing. Through biological evolution, sense organs and feeding structures also concentrate into the anterior region; these collectively form the head.
context_section_description: A typical insect head is composed of eyes, antennae, and components of mouth. As these components differ substantially from insect to insect, they form important identification links. Eyes in the head found, in several types of insects, are in the form of a pair of compound eyes with multiple faces. In many other types of insects the compound eyes are seen in a "single facet or group of single facets". In some cases, the eyes may be seen as marks on the dorsal or located near or toward the head,  two or three ocelli (single faceted organs).
  Antennae on the insect's head is found in the form of segmented attachments, in pairs, that are usually located between the eyes. These are in varying shapes and sizes, in the form of filaments or in different enlarged or clubbed form.
  Insects have mouth parts in various shapes depending on their feeding habits. Labrum is the "upper lip" which is in the front area of the head and is the most exterior part.  A pair of mandible is found on backside of the labrum flanking the side of the mouth, succeeded by a pair of maxillae each of which is known as maxilliary palp. At the back side of the mouth is the labium or lower lip. There is also an extra mouth part in some insects which is termed as hypopharynx which is usually located between the maxillac.
caption: Head of a Nomada-species bee
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