2007-02-27 08:35:50 · 8 answers · asked by hunterlicious 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
The exoskeleton is very restraining....here is a simplified explanation i usually tell kids when I give talks about insects in school.
Imagine the exoskeleton as being the equivalent of a suit of armour on a human. Now insects have only two real functions in life, to eat and to mate. As insects eat....alot, they grow, now imagine a person in suit of armour who is continually gaining weight, eventually the suit would become so tight it would restrict movement and make it very hard to do anything. So what do you do when you outgrow your old tight clothes?, you simply get larger clothes, in this case new, larger armour. This is essentially what insects are doing, except that their bodies produce the new armour (exoskeleton) inside the body, and when the insect or other arthropod molts, there is the new skin, ready to be grown into, until they get too large again, then the process (known as ecdysis) happens again.
Usually arthropods only molt as immatures, with the exception of only some small obscure little insects, and some others. During the immature stages, their only goal is to eat as much as they can as fast as they can, this is why they grow so quickly and must molt more often.
I hope this helps!
2007-02-27 13:12:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Do All Arthropods Molt
2017-01-09 13:00:20 · answer #2 · answered by hamman 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Arthropods are covered by a tough chitinous exoskeleton.So you know that an insect undergoes metamorphosis.(Transformation of a larva to adult). So when a larva grows bigger and bigger it has to shed its old skin to get a new one because the body of the larva increase in size day by day. So it has to undergo moulting to get a new exoskeleton.
2007-02-27 22:49:01 · answer #3 · answered by ♦Opty misstix♦ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To add to the fact that they have an exoskeleton and therefore can only grow by shedding it, enlarging, and then re-hardening their exoskeleton, this method of growth ahs the added advantage of allowing them to make drastic body plan rearrangements throughout their lives, since they aren't constrained by an internal skeleton.
2007-02-27 12:14:29 · answer #4 · answered by kiddo 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They molt in order to grow. Their "skeleton" is on the outside, and it is rigid and doesn't grow, so they must periodically shed it in order to grow bigger.
2007-02-27 08:44:30 · answer #5 · answered by xavier 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Their exoskeleton is made of chitin, which is inflexible, so they need to moult to grow.
2007-02-27 08:40:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
so they don't explode when they grow.
2007-02-27 08:43:23 · answer #7 · answered by dirkle1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they have nothing better to do.
2007-02-27 08:39:34 · answer #8 · answered by Daniel-san 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋