Requirement 3 of the Insect Study Merit Badge asks us to point out and name the main parts of an insect.  

Currently there are 950,000 known species of insects on the earth... That's a lot of bugs! Dispite the extremely large number, all insects are alike in three ways. They all have six legs, three main body sections, and hard exoskeleton.

The three main body sections

• Head
• Thorax
• Abdomen

Three legs are on each side of the middle part of the body called the thorax. Many insects also have wings that are attached to the thorax. Behind the thorax is the abdomen which is usually the largest part of the insect. In front of the thorax is the insect's head which also have antennae or feelers which are used to smell, feel, and taste things.

In practicing the principles of Leave No Trace... think twice before squashing the next insect you see.  Except mosquitoes!