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No, bugs don’t pee like we do. “In general, they eliminate water and uric acid with their feces when they defecate”, says biologist Osmar Malaspina, professor at the Center for the Study of Social Insects at the São Paulo State University (Unesp), in Rio Claro (SP). This does not mean that ants, cockroaches, flies and other insects do not have a urinary system. It exists, but it is integrated into the excretory system. The main organ of this apparatus are the so-called Malpighian tubules, long and thin channels that extract from the “blood” (or hemolymph) the substances that will be excreted. One of its ends is connected to the posterior portion of the intestine. After collecting the material to be eliminated, the Malpighian tubules transfer them to the intestine, from where they are expelled through the anus.