Talk:Mandible (insect mouthpart)

I have removed the following text as it is rubbish and badly worded. --5telios (talk) 08:16, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

==Not showing Mandibles in TV and Films== In TV and movies, mandibles of insects and spiders will not be shown but have human like eyes and human like mouth. This is due because it may scare children.

Proboscis = tongue?
I have seen in this article and several other articles where the proboscis is described as a "tongue". While a rather descriptive word to describe the appearance, it doesn't seem to really match the function and modified body parts, which may possibly lead to confusion on the part of the readers. If I were to equate these parts to those in a human mouth --in terms of function-- the proboscis primarily acts like lips, rounded and extended for sucking (say, drinking out of a lake). Thus the proboscis it typically modified parts of the maxilla, which in chewing-insects serve the same function as human lips in manipulating food while chewing. The labrum and labrium (literally, upper and lower lips) serve the function of our lips in providing an opening and closing of the mouth. The mandibles (literally "jaw") serves the function of our jaws in chewing, only it's part of the exoskeleton thus is on the outside. The part that serves the function of the "tongue" in manipulating and swallowing food once inside the mouth (possibly taste, definitely saliva and to produce suction) is the hypopharynx. Zaereth (talk) 21:40, 7 August 2018 (UTC)