page_title: Arthropod mouthparts
hierarchical_section_title: Arthropod mouthparts
caption_attribution_description: Close-up of a caterpillar's face, taken in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 20 August 2006. Close up of Caterpillar_face.jpg on Wikimedia Commons by user (Tom Murphy VII). Self - work (limited to cropping)
context_page_description: The mouthparts of arthropods have evolved into a number of forms, each adapted to a different style or mode of feeding. Most mouthparts represent modified, paired appendages, which in ancestral forms would have appeared more like legs than mouthparts. In general, arthropods have mouthparts for cutting, chewing, piercing, sucking, shredding, siphoning, and filtering. Insects are used as the model, with the novel mouthparts of the other groups introduced in turn. Insects are not, however, the ancestral form of the other arthropods discussed here.
context_section_description: The mouthparts of arthropods have evolved into a number of forms, each adapted to a different style or mode of feeding.  Most mouthparts represent modified, paired appendages, which in ancestral forms would have appeared more like legs than mouthparts.  In general, arthropods have mouthparts for cutting, chewing, piercing, sucking, shredding, siphoning, and filtering.  This article outlines the basic elements of four arthropod groups: insects, myriapods, crustaceans and chelicerates.  Insects are used as the model, with the novel mouthparts of the other groups introduced in turn.  Insects are not, however, the ancestral form of the other arthropods discussed here.
caption: The face of a caterpillar with the mouthparts showing.
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