Learn about the Insects of the Amazon Rainforest.
The Insects of the Amazon Rainforest are the most diverse group of creatures living, adapted to live everywhere you look in the forest. these forest creatures can be found in different shapes and colors.
The Amazon Rainforest Insects are exceptionally diverse, sometimes considered as the most successful creatures living in the forest. The Insects in the Amazon Rainforest are greater in numbers than in any other class of animals.
It is not surprising that the Amazon Rainforest, a place containing more diversity than anywhere else, contains a fantastic assemblage of colorful, strange and interesting insects.
Many species of the Insects of the Amazon Rainforest are capable of powered flight, insects can navigate the often complicated habitats of the Amazon Rainforest to find food, water, and mates.
Insect Metamorphosis Stages:
Complete Metamorphosis consists of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. However, the Incomplete Metamorphosis consists of three stages: egg, nymph, and adult. The main difference: Complete Metamorphosis consists of a very active, ravenously eating larva and an inactive pupa whereas incomplete metamorphosis consists of a nymph, which resembles a miniature adult.
Complete Metamorphosis occurs in wasps, ants, and fleas while Incomplete Metamorphosis occurs in termites, praying mantis, and cockroaches.
Habitats to find Insects in the Amazon Rainforest.
- Varzea, seasonally floodplain along the major rivers.
- Terra firme, a high forest where flood records over 200 years.
- Forest Swamp, Swampy areas along rivers and oxbow lakes.
- Forest Streams, collects all water from rainfall, some rocky.
- Moriche Swamp, a dense population of palm and wild ginger.
- Oxbow lakes, Shortcuts leave behind by the rivers
The Easy Orders of Insects living in the Amazon Rainforest.
Learn some of the Orders of Insects living in the Amazon Rainforest.
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Diptera (Flies & Mosquitoes)
Hindwings are reduced to tiny knobs (halters). They use one pair of wings. They are Holometabolous
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Lepidoptera (Moths & Butterflies)
All have four large wings, covered by scales. Often one of the colorful Insects of the Amazon Rainforest.
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Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasp, Ants)
Head shaped like a beak, with chewing mouthparts. Body not exceptionally soft, often with a narrow (snatched) “waist. They have stingers! 🙁 They are Holometabolous.
Family Formicidae
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Coleoptera (Beetles)
Four wings; the pairs thickened or hardened (elytra). They are Holometabolous
Family Curculionidae
Family Cerambycidae
Shiripuno Amazon Lodge is a great place to Watch the Insects of the Amazon Rainforest.
All photos were taken in the Shiripuno Amazon Lodge in the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, northeast Ecuador, known for exceptional animal diversity with a diverse number of primates, frogs, birds, and, of course, insects.
We organize Insect photography tours with our guides, photographers of many of these insects, and take a family vacation in the world’s largest home of wildlife, the Amazon Rainforest.
Eight Days $1,650
Shiripuno Amazon Lodge. Yasuni, Ecuador
In Shiripuno Amazon Lodge you can visit an extensive trail network for observing a high diversity of Amazon Jungle monkeys. In fact, the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve was founded to protect the diversity of life. With your Private guide (as standard), you will take Amazon jungle tours in the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve and you can choose from the greatest number of options in Amazonia.
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Orthoptera (Grasshoppers & Crickets)
Four wings, front ones thickened. Jumping hind legs. Hind wings, when open, spread like fans. Sound producers.
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Blattodea (Cockroaches & Termites)
Flattened body, long antennae, and no enlarged legs Head under throated.
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Dermaptera ( Earwigs)
Short-winged covers and with abdominal forceps “pincer tails”
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Odonata (Dragonflies & Damselflies)
Juvenile: aquatic. Enormous eyes. Two pairs of membranous wings were similar in size and texture. Wings cannot be folded.
Dragonflies – Wings held folded vertically above the abdomen.
Damselflies – Front wings larger than hind ones. Abdomen with two or three long filaments.
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Hemiptera (True Bugs, Aphids, Cicadas, Leafhoppers)
Sucking mouthparts. Two pairs of wings either: lie flat on the back at rest, forming an “X”; held straight along back, or absent.
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Order Ephemeroptera – Mayflies
Similar to Ephemeroptera but wings are held over the abdomen. No abdominal filaments.
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Order Neuroptera – Antlions, Lacewings, and Allies
Similar to Neuroptera but with two or three abdominal short filaments.
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Order Plecoptera – Stoneflies
Wings held rooflike over abdomen. Large head. Sucking, piercing mouthparts.