The Insectivorous animals Are those that subsist on a diet based on insects, other arthropods and earthworms. These are usually small mammals (such as mice or small rats) and numerous small, pointed teeth.
There are about 450 species of mammals that fall into this classification (almost 10 percent of all mammalian species).
Not all insectivores are exclusively, some also feed on carrion and plant matter such as hedgehogs; Others feed on insects for a certain period of their life, such as crocodiles that feed on insects and minnows when they are newborns.
This means that due to the economic impact of insect pests, insectivorous organisms have been used to control them.
Taxonomy of insectivores
In scientific terms, insectivorous refers to an order, which is the division of the classification of animals between the class and the family.
The specialized classification of insectivores has been problematic since the founding of modern taxonomy by Carolus Linnaeus , Due to the wide range of anatomical characteristics present in the group.
Specialists could only agree that insectivores were placental mammals that could not be placed in any of the best-defined orders, that is, that they are located in a taxonomic group containing those mammals impossible to place elsewhere. The order Insectivore groups about 360 species.
Characteristics of insectivores
They usually have five fingers on their limbs and walk or run with soles and heels on the floor (plantigrade).
They have flexible and relatively small snouts adorned with sensory whiskers that help them to test the litter, soil, mud or water, to locate their prey. For this also helps sharp sense of smell.
The cerebral hemispheres, however, are small indicating less developed intelligence.
They usually catch their prey with their teeth and manipulate it with their mouth until they swallow it, but some nail it with their front legs.
Although there is sometimes no external evidence, these animals have eyes and ears. Their vision is poor and those eyes are usually small, degenerate or covered with skin. While your hearing is sharp. In fact, many of them vocalize by whistling and grunting or other sounds, including ultrasound.
Most insectivores are earth dwellers or excavators, but several are amphibians, and some have adapted to tree life or understory forest.
That is, given that there are many types of animals that include insects in their diet, it can not be said that there is a common habitat at all.
Insectivorous birds
They are recognized because they have some species of pelitos at the side of their peaks forming something like a mustache that allows them to recognize the flapping of insects more easily.
Its beak is also different compared to other non-insectivorous birds. This is because the beak serves to unearth the insects that are hidden in holes or difficult to reach places.
Insectivorous amphibians
Insectivorous amphibians have a sticky tongue to catch the insects and the rest of their prey. These animals also have permanent permanent teeth.
Insects insectivores
They are less common, but there are some species that eat other insects. Normally your diet includes other foods in addition to insects and there is a difference in size between predator and prey. In the case of arachnids, almost all feed on smaller insects.
Note that there are also insectivorous vegetables.
50 examples of insectivorous animals
1- Mole : It is a mammal of broad and robust legs that excavates subterranean galleries and feeds on insects and larvae.
2- Tenrec without tail (Tenrec ecaudatus) : Is a mammal approximately 35 centimeters long, whose body is covered with spikes. Its habitat is located in Madagascar.
3- Swallow : Black-backed bird, white belly and trimmed tail, measuring up to 18 centimeters in length. It feeds on insects that hunt on the fly.
4- Bat : Nocturnal flying mammal that lives in grottos or caves and that is oriented by echolocation. Hang upside down and live in groups.
5- Shrew : Rat-like mammal, with elongated and pointed snout useful for devouring prey.
6- Desmán : Mammal with snout in the shape of a trunk and brownish color that feeds on aquatic insects. It measures about 15 centimeters and lives near the rivers of the Pyrenees and Russia.
7- Hedgehog : Mammal with the body covered with sharp prongs and with the capacity to roll like a ball. It reaches 20 centimeters in length.
8- Armadillos : Toothless mammal, whose back and tail are covered by articulated horn plates that allow it to roll in ball to protect itself.
9- Beetles : Beetle with oval body and short legs.
10- Tent : Freshwater fish that lives in rivers and lakes.
11- Chameleons : Reptile that changes color to camouflage. It lives in warm areas.
12- Dragonflies : Insect endowed with four membranous wings that lives in the vicinity of the waters where it catches smaller insects. Its larva is aquatic and when it grows, it reaches 5 centimeters in length.
13- Frogs : Jumping amphibian and reddish-skinned swimmer whose larva is the tadpole. It lives next to ponds and lagoons.
14- Gálagos : Small mammal primate of olfato very developed. It is also carnivorous and has its habitat in Africa.
15- Ladybugs : Coleopteran that feeds on aphids and whose most common species has orange wings with seven black spots
16- Numbat : Australian marsupial.
17- Pangolin : Toothless mammal covered with scales. It can measure up to one meter in length and lives in Africa and Asia.
18- Mantis religiosa : Insect of 5 centimeters in length with previous claw feet with which it catches its prey.
19- Raccoon : Mammal with yellowish gray fur. He is also a butcher and lives in North America.
20- Lazy Bear : Slow moving tree mammal. He lives in South America. It reaches 60 centimeters in length.
21- Spider : Arthropod with four pairs of legs, non-segmented abdomen at the extremity of the organs producing the silk thread with which weave the net in which they trap their prey.
22- Tarsero : Mammal without tail and with big eyes that lives in Southeast Asia.
23- Wasps : Abdomen insect formed by yellow and black rings that develops from a larva and lives in hornets that build in group.
24- Blackbird : Bird of dark plumage, black in male and brown in female. It is common to see it in parks and forests.
25- Robin : Bird of brown plumage with red neck and chest that resides throughout Europe to the polar circle and migrates towards Africa and Asia. It measures 15 centimeters in length.
26- Triton : Amphibian with tail compressed laterally that lives in ponds and ponds and that measures between 10 and 20 centimeters.
27- Salamander : Amphibian with a lizard shape, smooth black leather with yellow spots. It lives near bodies of water like rivers, lakes or ponds.
28- Sparrow : Arboreal bird, song, light flight and brown plumage with black and reddish males.
29- Goldfinch : Common bird in Spain, with thin beak, bright colors and melodious singing.
30- Toad : Batracio of chubby skin with warts and bulging eyes.
31- Anteater : Toothless mammal with cylindrical snout, long and flexible tongue, anterior legs shorter than the hind legs and long and strong claws.
32- Anteater : African mammal with cylindrical muzzle and short legs with four fingers. It feeds on insects.
33- Lizard : Saurian smaller than the lizard.
34- Geco : Lizard of warm regions. It has sticky fingers.
35- Sugar Petauro : Small marsupial of nocturnal habits. It is common in Asia and comes from northern and eastern Australia, the island of New Guinea and adjacent islands.
36- Suricata : Narrow-faced mammal, small crescent-shaped ears, long, thin tail. Its fur is beige and is dotted with darker or lighter stripes from the shoulders to the base of the tail, and is 25 to 35 centimeters in length. He lives in South Africa.
37. Thorny Devil : It has large and sharp conical boneless bones with brown and golden stripes that cover the head, body, legs and even the ventral surface and tail. It measures up to 20 centimeters in length and lives in the Great Western Australian Sand Desert.
38- Tyranids : American passeriform bird that measures between 6,5 and 28 centimeters, with plumage of colors black, brown, white, yellow and green. Many have an erectile crest.
39- Parulidae : Arboreal birds that reach 11.5 to 12.5 centimeters. They inhabit from cold and temperate forests of North America to tropical rainforests of the Caribbean.
Flycatcher : Passerine birds and fly hunters.
41- Bee-eater : It feeds only on wasps and bees.
42- Starling : Known as European starling, it measures 20 centimeters long and has an iridescent black plumage, with a purple or green glow, sprinkled with white, especially in the winter. The legs are reddish, and the beak is black in the winter and yellow in the summer.
43- Crocodile : Arcosaurus reptile that lives in the tropics of Africa, Asia, America and the island of Australia. They have a hard skin and covered with scales. It has binocular vision and its eyes have a transparent membrane that moves transversely acting as an additional eyelid.
44- Bedbugs : An insect that feeds on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals. It is often found on mattresses, sofas and other household furniture.
45- Killer flies : They have thorns in the legs and a mustache of dense mushrooms that serve to protect the face when it fights with their prey. Inject saliva with neurotoxic enzymes to paralyze the victims and prepare them for digestion.
46- Alquimí : An animal of nocturnal life that lives in holes of trees or in burrows. They live in Cuba and in Haiti. It is very little known, given its timid and nocturnal character. It resembles the shrews and its saliva is poisonous.
47- American Mink : Mammal with broad head, very short ears and lustrous brown coat with partially webbed legs. Hunting in marshes of Europe and Asia.
48- Hairy Tail Lunar : Is a dark gray haired mammal with a pointed nose and a short, hairy tail. It has an approximate length of 15 centimeters. Its front legs are wide and shaped like a shovel and it has 44 teeth. His eyes are covered with fur and his ears are not external. It is also known as the Brewer Mole, lives in wooded and open areas in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. You need the moist soil to dig easily.
49- White-tooth shrew : It is distributed from central Europe to the east to the Caspian Sea. It is dark gray-brown or chestnut-brown on its back, and white or gray on its bottom. A defined line separates the two colors on the sides, so they also call it"bicolor white toothed shrew."It measures between 68 and 87 mm in length, and the tail is 29 to 46 mm. And is covered with long and protruding hairs at right angles.
Nightingale : Passeriform bird of light brown plumage that reach to measure 15 centimeters of length and whose song is much appreciated.
References
- Insectivorous animals. Recovered from: naturalista.mx.
- Insectivores. Retrieved from: www.botanical-online.com.
- Insectivores. Retrieved from: www.bioenciclopedia.com.
- Dictionary encyclopedic (2000). The little Larousse illustrated. International edition, sixth edition.
- Musser, Guy (2015). Insectivore. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from: britannica.com.
- Museum of Zoology. Insectivores. Retrieved from: animaldiversity.org.
- Iranicaonline.org.