ENTM Flashcards: Diptera and Lepidoptera

Flashcards for ENTM Worksheets Lecture Topics 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, focusing on Diptera and Lepidoptera orders, including key families, characteristics, and ecological significances.

Order Diptera

Flies; characterized by having two wings.

Halteres

Gyroscope-like structures in Diptera that provide exceptional aerial skills.

Puparium

Hardened larval skin that endorses the pupa in dipteran insects.

Family Tipulidae

Crane flies; adults have a mosquito-like appearance and long legs that may be easily shed for defense.

Family Chironomidae

Non-biting midges; common around bodies of water, larvae are aquatic.

Family Ceratopogonidae

Biting midges; females feed on blood for egg development, some are vectors for animal diseases such as bluetongue virus.

Family Psychodidae

Moth flies or drain flies; common in bathrooms, larvae develop in drains and feed on organic matter.

Subfamily Phlemotominae

Sand flies; significant vectors of human diseases like leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniasis

Disease transmitted by sandflies, caused by protozoan parasites, manifestations include cutaneous, mucosal, and visceral forms.

Family Tabanidae

Horse flies and deer flies; females have slashing-sponging mouthparts and are painful biters, larvae are aquatic.

Slashing-sponging mouthparts

Mouthparts of female Tabanidae used to make an incision and lap up blood.

Family Asilidae

Robber flies; predatory flies with a stylate proboscis and concave depression on top of head.

Family Muscidae

House flies and stable flies; house flies have sponging mouthparts, stable flies have piercing-sucking mouthparts.

Family Glossinidae

Tsetse flies; vector African trypanosomiasis, females exhibit adenotrophic viviparity.

Adenotrophic viviparity

Reproductive strategy where the female feeds larva from modified uterine gland.

African trypanosomiasis

Sleeping sickness; transmitted by tsetse flies, endemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

Family Calliphoridae

Blow flies; larvae are scavengers, used in maggot therapy for debridement and disinfection, useful in forensic entomology.

Family Simuliidae

Black flies; females consume nectar and blood, larvae have labial fans for filter feeding, vector river blindness.

River blindness

Disease vectored by blackflies, caused by parasitic nematode, leads to skin inflammation, blindness.

Family Culicidae

Mosquitoes; females consume nectar and blood, while males consume nectar, vectors of various diseases.

Toxorhynchites

Mosquito genus where larvae are predatory and consume other mosquito larvae.

Aedes Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes with black and white stripes on body/legs that can transmit Dengue, yellow fever, West Nile virus, Zika, and canine heartworm.

Anopheles Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes with maximally palps → long (similar in length to proboscis) and transmit Mammalian malaria.

Lepidoptera

Order including butterflies and moths, characterized by scaled wings.

Holometabolous

Complete metamorphosis; eggs laid on host plant; pupa: chrysalis

Family Papillioniade

Swallowtail butterflies; characterized by tail-like extensions of the hindwings and osmeterium in larvae for defense.

Family Pieridae

White and yellow butterflies; some are pests on cabbage and relatives.

Family Lycaenidae

Gossamer-winged butterflies; some associate with ants, including parasitic relationships.

Family Nymphalidae

Brush-footed butterflies; largest family, includes monarch butterflies which migrate and use milkweed for chemical defense.

Tympanal organ

Sensory organ in moths sensitive to ultrasound frequencies used in bats' echolocation.

Family Noctuidae

Owlet moths; mostly nocturnal, sensitive to high pitch sound (ultrasound), some are migratory pests.

Family Sphingidae

Hawk moths and sphinx moths; larvae include tomato hornworm, often mistaken for hummingbirds.

Family Saturniidae

Giant silk, royal or emperor moths; many with eye spots for defense.

Family Bombycidae

Silkworm moths; one of the few domesticated insect species, produces silk.

Bombyx mori

a species of silkworm moth

Family Tineidae

Fungus moths and clothes moths; digest keratin and damage clothes/carpets with animal hair-derived fiber.

Yucca moth

Species that has an obligate mutualism with the Yucca Plant

Hymenoptera

Order including ants, wasps, bees, and sawflies; characterized by membrane wings.

Ovipositor

egg-laying structure → modifies into a stinger

Eusocial

overlap in generation (offspring assist their parents)

Family Formicidae

Ants; eusocial insects with castes in females, use formic acid for defense (in some species).

Trophallaxis

Liquid food exchange among colony members

Army ants

Life without a permanent nest: bivouac