Insects Reading Answers

Nov 10, 2025

The responses for "Insects Reading Answers" consist of 6 questions and are part of the assessment framework for the IELTS General Reading test. Candidates are given 10 minutes to finish the reading responses related to "Insects." This segment of the IELTS reading examination includes various question types, such as choosing the correct heading for each section.

The responses for "Insects Reading Answers" provide a detailed overview of how insects are the most diverse group on Earth, with millions of species thriving due to their adaptability, small size, and resilience. Though they inhabit nearly every environment, only a few survive in Antarctica, and they are virtually absent from the oceans.. For further practice with comparable reading evaluations, candidates can check the IELTS Reading Practice Test section.

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Insects Reading Answers

A.Almost everywhere you look, you'll find dozens of insects. A wildly diverse bunch, the class Insecta includes ants, bees, flies, beetles and much more. These creatures possess a body composed of three segments, head, thorax and abdomen, encased in a hard exoskeleton. All insects also sport a pair of antenna, compound eyes and three pairs of jointed legs. From that basic body plan, emerges all sorts of amazing behaviors and abilities.

B.To date, scientists have catalogued about 1.5 million species of organisms on the planet, with insects making up about two-thirds of this bounty, which has been found reported by the researchers of the National Academy of Sciences.

But scientists have only yet begun to scratch the surface. Studies estimate the total number of species on Earth is probably closer to 9 million. Reasons for insects' success include their tiny size, which both makes hiding easier and reduces overall energy requirements, wide diet of both natural and artificial foods, tough, protective exoskeletons, frequent possession of wings, which help them reach for safety, grub and mates and prodigious ability to reproduce.

C.Beetles, of the insect order Coleoptera, are the most biodiverse group of creatures known, with more than 380,000 species described to date, making up 40 percent of all insect species on the books. A recent proceeding of the Royal Society B study suggests the secret to beetle diversity and likely to that of other insects groups, is their lifestyle versatility. This ensures that their species do not go extinct as readily as, say, mammal or amphibian species.

D.If so, when you look down you'll probably spy an ant or two or 10 scurrying along. (It's not uncommon to see ants when indoors, either.) The renowned biologists Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson estimated in their Pulitzer Prize-winning 1990 book, "The Ants" (Belknap Press), that on the order of 10 quadrillion ants live on the planet at any given moment.

That's about 1.4 million ants per human, based on a world population of 7.3 billion people.

E.Although insects can be found by the buckets just about anywhere on Earth, there's one continent where they barely have a foothold-Antarctica. In fact, only one true species of insect, a wingless midge called Belgica antarctica, calls the southernmost continent its home. This tiny fly is only about 0.08 to 0.23 inches long, but it's still the Antarctic's largest terrestrial animal. Amongst this insect's many ingenious adaptations to Antarctic harshness to withstand the freezing of its bodily fluids and sports a rich, purple-black complexion to soak up as much visible sunlight as it can for warmth.

F.Seeing as you still can't escape insects even in Antarctica, there is yet one place where you can still go to be virtually free of the six-legged creatures. That place is the 70 percent of the Earth's surface covered by the ocean. Why have insects failed to set up shop in the biggest biosphere on the planet? No one really knows why, but suggested explanations are that the oceans lack the plants for food and sheltering habitat that are found on land. Another possible explanation is that cousins of insects, the crustaceans, have largely made the ocean their home, potentially muscling out their jointed-leg competitors.

Questions 8-13

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, I-VI.

LIST OF HEADINGS

I. Meet the beetles

II. Six-legged critters

III. Landlubbers.

IV. On every continent.

V. The most successful creatures

VI. Planet of the ants.

8. Section A

Answer: II. Six-legged critters

Supporting statement: “These creatures possess a body composed of three segments... and three pairs of jointed legs.”

Keywords: three pairs of jointed legs, body segments, exoskeleton

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, Lines 2–3

Explanation: The paragraph introduces insects in general, describing their structure and traits—making “Six-legged critters” the most fitting heading.

9. Section B

Answer: V. The most successful creatures

Supporting statement: “Reasons for insects' success include their tiny size… wide diet… tough, protective exoskeletons… and prodigious ability to reproduce.”

Keywords: success, reasons, reproduce, protective exoskeleton

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Lines 5–7

Explanation: Paragraph B explains why insects are so successful and numerous, thus matching perfectly with the heading “The most successful creatures.”

10. Section C

Answer: I. Meet the beetles

Supporting statement: “Beetles, of the insect order Coleoptera, are the most biodiverse group of creatures known, with more than 380,000 species described.”

Keywords: beetles, Coleoptera, biodiverse group, species

Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 1

Explanation: The paragraph focuses on beetles specifically—their diversity and survival—hence “Meet the beetles” fits best.

11. Section D

Answer: VI. Planet of the ants

Supporting statement: “The renowned biologists Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson estimated… that on the order of 10 quadrillion ants live on the planet at any given moment.”

Keywords: 10 quadrillion ants, planet, ants

Keyword Location: Paragraph D, Line 3

Explanation: This paragraph provides astonishing facts about the population of ants, suggesting Earth is practically “Planet of the ants.”

12. Section E

Answer: IV. On every continent

Supporting statement: “Although insects can be found… anywhere on Earth, there's one continent where they barely have a foothold—Antarctica.”

Keywords: anywhere on Earth, continent, Antarctica

Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Lines 1–2

Explanation: The paragraph discusses insect distribution across continents, emphasizing that Antarctica is the only exception, fitting “On every continent.”

13. Section F

Answer: III. Landlubbers

Supporting statement: “That place is the 70 percent of the Earth's surface covered by the ocean. Why have insects failed to set up shop in the biggest biosphere on the planet?”

Keywords: ocean, failed to set up, land, habitat

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Lines 1–3

Explanation: The paragraph describes how insects have not colonized oceans, showing that they are land dwellers—hence the heading “Landlubbers.”

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