Insects are extremely diverse. Part of that diversity is apparent in the ways that they consume their preferred food. Today, inspired by an anonymous listener question, the Arthro-Pod gang goes over the different types of insect mouths and how they help insects to begin the process of digestion. Then join them as they traverse the three "guts" of insects and end up on the other side of the anus with insect frass. It's an episode with lots of colorful descriptions and turns of phrase, that's for sure. Insect mouths come in different shapes and perform different jobs but they contain the same parts across most of the board; a labrum, the mandibles, maxillae, the hypopharnyx, and the labium Chewing mouths are the most common of all mouths, found on predators and herbivores such as this grasshopper Chewing-lapping mouthparts can chew pollen and help with lapping up honey and nectar Siphoning mouthparts are unique, they have been modified to curl up and unfurl and help slurp up nectar Piercing-sucking mouthparts can be used to suck juices from plants, or as this wheel bug would do, to suck the juices from prey Sponging mouthparts are found on many flies, they use these to acquire liquid food Show notes https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/bug-bytes/digestive-system/ https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~rider/Pentatomoidea/Teaching%20Structure/Lecture%20Notes/Week%2011a%20Digestive%20System.pdf Some of Jody's favorite bug poo Drywood termite frass is quite distinct Tomato hornworm frass is often compared to the shape of a hand grenade Here a tortoise shell beetle uses frass as a defensive shield Questions? Comments?  Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_PodshowFollow the hosts on Twitter @bugmanjon, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36 Get the show through Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcatching app!If you can spare a moment, we appreciate when you subscribe to the show on those apps or when you take time to leave a review! Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!   This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Beginning/ending theme: "There It Is" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0