What is Maxillae of a insect?

Answer 1

In an insect maxillae occupy the dorsolateral surface of the mouth openings. They constitute the mouth parts together with mandibles and labium, which occupy the dorsal and ventral regions, respectively. Depending upon the type of mouth parts, maxillae are variously modified. For example, in cockroach it has a cardo, stipes, lacinia and galea and a maxillary palp. The latter has sensory cells that detect the taste of the food. Maxillae pick up the food particles that are broken down by the mandibles and push them towards mouth.
In mosquitoes maxillae are elongated like a grass blade.

Answer 2

Maxilla. (plural maxillae) One of the two components of the insect mouth-parts lying just behind the jaws. They assist with the detection and manipulation of food and are often drawn out into tubular structures for sucking up liquids.

Answer 3

In vertebrates, the maxilla refers to the upper jaw bones, as described in the other answer.

However, in insects, it refers to one of the pairs of appendages that make up the mouthparts of the insect.

In generalized insects, like grasshoppers and cockroaches, the maxillae act essentially like forks - holding food items so that they can be sliced and cut up by the more blade-like mandibles.

In other insect groups, they may become more highly specialized. In mosquitoes, for example, the maxillae are modified into two long, slender blade-like stylets with serrated tips. These are used to saw back and forth in the tiny wound snipped by the scalpel-like mandibles, and opens it wide enough to stick the double-barrelled feeding tubes of the labrum-epipharynx and hypopharynx into the wound to suck up blood.

Answer 4

The maxilla (plural: maxillae) is a fusion of two bones along the palatal fissure that form the upper jaw. This is similar to the mandible, which is also a fusion of two halves at the mental symphysis.

Basically, "the jaw".