It has an inner and outer component; the outer component has just two layers ( whereas body cuticle has four ), and these outer layers ( in particular the inner epicuticle ) are dehydrated and strongly tanned, affording toughness.
12.
The insect outer skeleton, the cuticle, is made up of two layers; the epicuticle, which is a thin, waxy, water-resistant outer layer and contains no chitin, and the layer under it called the procuticle.
13.
Once the new cuticle has formed sufficiently, the animal splits the remaining parts of the old integument along built-in lines of weakness and sheds them in the visible process of ecdysis, generally shedding and discarding the epicuticle and the reduced exocuticle, though some species carry them along for camouflage or protection.
