INSECTS do not breathe in quite the way we thought. The revelation has caused a sharp intake of breath among zoologists, because after centuries of study it means we may have to rethink our ideas about insect physiology.
Insects take in air through holes called spiracles along their flanks, which link to a branched network of tubes, or tracheae, that carry it deep into the body. For many years, biologists believed that air diffused passively through the tracheae.
More recently, it was found that insects can draw air in through their tracheae by flexing their abdomens and making other large…
