Can You Define The Structure And Function Of Cuticle In Cockroaches?

Cuticle:
It forms the exoskeleton of the insect. A thin waxy layer, impermeable to water, coats it externally. It forms several invaginations in the body, called tentorium in the head and apodemes in the rest of the body. It also forms outgrowths such as stiff and immovable spines or bristles covering the body and the appendages. The cuticle is sclerotized, that is, it forms small hard plates called sclerites.There are 4 such plates in each body segment, a upper tergum or tergite, a ventral sternum or sternite and two lateral pleura or pleurites.
Histological the cuticle is made of three distinct layers epicuticle, exocuticle and end cuticle, all secreted by the underlying hypodermis. There are some spirally coiled pore canals present. There exact function is uncertain but they influence the flexibility and permeability of the cuticle.

Hypodermis:
It lies below and secretes the cuticle. It consists of a single layer of columnar cells resting on a basement membrane.

Segmentation:
The body is distinctly segmented into three well- defined regions known as head, thorax and abdomen, which are structurally very different from one another.

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