Whenever we’ve come across a particular worm, we’ve all called it an insect at least once in our lives.
This assumption is very typical as these two animals look very similar in size and can be found in the same places. But often do we remember that a worm is really an insect?
Finding an answer to this question is exceptionally normal. So we’ve tried our best to clear this universal confusion in as many simple words as possible.
Read on below to find out if worms can actually fall under the insect umbrella!
What are insects?
There is probably no one on planet earth who has not seen an insect in their life. Insects are everywhere! Starting with mosquitoes, bees, butterflies and crickets, these are insects and they are all around us. You can almost call it part of our life.
But how would you scientifically define an insect? Although we all know what insects look like, most of us do not know what they are like or how they classify insects as insects. To know this, we have to delve a little into the wide world of zoology.
The animal kingdom is divided into several tribes. While we humans belong to the vertebrate world, insects belong to a tribe called Arthropoda.
The simple definition of an arthropod is that it has an exoskeleton, segmented body, and common legs. They could have wings too.
Insects also have complete symmetry in their body that makes them look identical in half.
In addition, they have a very developed physical structure compared to smaller strains. In the upper part of their body, they have a head with eyes, a mouth, and often antennae.
They usually have six legs in pairs of two in the part of the body called the thorax. In addition, insects also have the central part of the body like evolved animals that have multiple organ systems.
These systems help carry out the digestive, reproductive, and excretory functions of insects. We can more or less understand that insects are quite advanced in the animal world compared to a few tribes.
You can find insects everywhere. Some live in the ocean, some inland, while others live in plants above.
They play a crucial role in our environment by helping the microorganisms to decompose the soil or by helping plants with pollination. The role that insects play in ecology is extraordinarily large, and words would not describe it.
Some common examples of insects are crickets, ants, lice, mayflies, wasps, cockroaches, etc. After all, you know how insects can see, smell, or perceive things? Because they have a brain!
What are worms?
I am sure you have all long seen insect-like species that normally creep around. They are all worms. While it feels like there aren’t many differences between an insect or a worm, in reality these two animals are vastly different!
Worms are invertebrates with elongated, limp-less bodies. They move by crawling or crawling and are usually less than 1 cm long.
Worms have a soft, slimy body with only a mouth, anus, and intestines. Can you believe that worms have no organs, eyes, or brains? They don’t have legs either.
In addition, worms belong to multiple tribes instead of one. They can come from Annelida, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Nemertea, and many more.
Worms from each strain have different names. For example, the worms belonging to Annelida are known as segmented worms or earthworms. Worms that belong to nematodes are called roundworms.
Each species of worm has different specifications that help them survive. The body cavity of flatworms helps them, for example, with eating and excreting waste.
In contrast, roundworms have both a mouth and an anus that help them perform this function. Segmented worms have their bodies divided into segments, with each segment containing the same organs.
Different types of worms live in different environments. Earthworms are most commonly found underground. They are also widespread in marine areas.
On the other hand, some worms like roundworms or tapeworms live as parasites in other animals and cause them harm and good.
One interesting thing about worms – they can be asexual organisms. This means that they can reproduce on their own and do not need the help of other worms.
Some common examples of asexual worms are planarians, polychaetas, etc. Species such as earthworms now reproduce sexually.
What is the difference between worms and being an insect?
Whenever we see tiny organisms on the ground / or in flight, we thoughtlessly assume that it is an insect. Everything little is an insect, huh!
Don’t worry because you think that you are the only one with this misconception; many people, including me, have thought the same!
If the answer is not clear by now, worms are very different from insects.
They have marked differences in their organs, their physical structure, their functions, their way of life, their reproduction and much more. Worms are a very different group of animals than insects.
Let’s look at some of the differences below!
anatomy
Once you know worms and insects, you can tell the difference between them just by looking.
Although both are small, worms look different from insects. While insects look different (a butterfly and a bee don’t look alike, do they?), Worms pretty much have a general physical structure.
Worms have elongated, smooth bodies with no complexity. They hardly have any separate body parts and are made up of a long structure with openings at both ends.
However, because they cover such an extensive spectrum of strains, species of worms can look different in color or length, but that’s about it.
On the other hand, insects have a certain structure that they care for. They all have a head, body, and six legs. Unlike worms, their body is divided into several parts from the outside.
For example, a cockroach has wings, a body, legs, etc. While a worm only has that one long segment that it lives on.
As mentioned earlier, insects share a variety of looks too. A ladybug has a different beauty than a butterfly. Whenever you see two species of insects, you can tell them apart.
Phyla
If you’ve studied basic biology, you know that the animal kingdom is divided into several subunits called the phyla.
Each tribe has more subdivisions, but we don’t have to go that deep. We need to know that the Chordata tribe is made up of all vertebrates like us humans, tigers, cats, etc.
On the other hand, the remaining strains are known as invertebrates. Now both worms and insects are invertebrates.
But insects are part of a more advanced strain called Arthropoda, while worms are part of several less advanced strains. We need to understand that what distinguishes worms from insects is mainly this differentiation in the phyla.
Animals from the same tribe have the same physical structure and functions, making them easy to identify.
For example, Arthropoda animals have articulated legs while Nematoda animals have none. These superficial differences in function and structure distinguish each strain as it does with worms and insects.
Body functions
Almost all insects lay eggs. They undergo internal fertilization by placing male insect sperm in the female insect’s ovary, where the egg is produced. That is why you often see eggs from insects.
However, insects such as aphids undergo asexual reproduction, and an offspring turns out to be very similar to a single parent.
Worms, on the other hand, differ in the way they reproduce, depending on the species. Some have asexual reproduction while others have sexual reproduction.
Many worms, like earthworms, are hermaphrodites, which means that they have both female and male reproductive organs.
The differences between worms and insects can vary in many other cases. They belong to very different groups of animals and therefore share very different characteristics.
The main thing, however, is that while worms share a much larger and more generalized spectrum, insects can be narrowed down to certain characteristics.
Hence, “worms” is a broader term than “insects” and they are very different from each other.
last words
When we go into the wild, we often come across worms that we become curious about. It is normal to assume that they fall under insects, since worms and insects inhabit the same place. But often our intense curiosity leads us to learn more about them.
We try to be more transparent about the studies of worms and doubt that worms are insects. Hence the question “is a worm an insect?” Is more common than you might expect.
Our pure curiosity can lead us to a wide range of studies and all in all, the acquisition of knowledge is always beneficial.
So we sincerely hope that this article can help you clear your confusion about worms and insects! We hope you learned something new in the process.
