Insect morphology least three different positions: prognathous, opisthognathous, and hypognathous. In species with prognathous articulation, the head is positioned vertically aligned with the body, such as species of Formicidae; while in a hypognathous type, the head is aligned horizontally adjacent to the body. An opisthognathous head is positioned diagonally, such as species of Blattodea and some Coleoptera. The mouthparts vary greatly between insects of different orders, but the two main functional groups are mandibulate and haustellate. Haustellate mouthparts are used for sucking liquids and can be further classified by the presence of stylets, which include piercing-sucking, sponging, and siphoning. The stylets are
Insect thermoregulation high mechanical power output which in turn, due to biochemical inefficiencies, end up producing large amounts of heat. Thus, a flying insect produces heat which, as long as it does not exceed an upper lethal limit, will be tolerated. However, if the flying insect is also exposed to external sources of heat (for example, radiation from the sun) or ambient temperatures are too high, it should be able to thermoregulate and stay in its temperature comfort zone. The first mechanism that comes to mind for insects to lose heat during flight is convection because higher speeds necessarily increase convective cooling.