Entomology Terms

Nomenclature

Subset of taxonomy concerning rules for application of scientific names to species and groups of species

Systematics

Study of species and the phylogenetic relationships among them

Homeotic genes

- Direct formation of body plans

- Mutations result in big changes

Ametabolous

- Undergoing slight or no metamorphosis

- Parainsecta + Apterygotes

Hemimetabolous

- Incomplete metamorphosis

- Exopterygotes (wingpads outside)

Holometabolous

- Complete metamorphosis

- Endopterygotes (wingpads inside)

- Reduce food competition

- Separate predators/parasites/pathogens

- Reduced immature life spans

- Longer reproductive phase

Class Entognatha

- Parainsecta

- Primitively wingless

- Most w/ antennae

- Most w/ eyes/ocelli

- Indirect fertilization, Spermatophores

- Ametabolous

Epimorphic

Abdominal segments not added

Anamorphic

Abdominal segments added

Cryptozoic

Insects living in litter & upper soil layers to survive conditions here

Ocelli

Simple eyes on an insect used to sense light

Cerci

Extentions of an insects abdomen used to give an insect a sense of touch at the back of the body.

Dicondylic Mandible

Mandibles with two joints. Usually found in winged insects and silverfish.

Infraclass Pterygota

- Wings do not fold

- Hemimetabolous

- Aquatic naiads

Subimago stage

A winged juvenile stage in Emphemeroptera

labium

lower lip

Autotomy

Shedding of a body part when attacked, Diplura

Tympana

The ears of crickets, katydids and grasshoppers that are not on their heads, but are on their legs or abdomen

Stridulation

Sound produced by dragging a row of peg-like structures across a file-like structure.

coxae

hip bones

Ootheca

A protective structure many female insects construct around their eggs. A product of the female's accessory glands. A mantid's has the texture of Styrofoam; a roach's looks like a tiny purse.

Hemelytra

The half leathery, half membranous wings of true bugs like stink bugs.

GWSS

Glassy Winged Sharpshooter Infestation

Unique Hemiptera Digestive System

- Filter chamber

- Phloem/xylem feeding

-Shunt excess water & sugars

- Edosymbiotic bacteria

Parthenogenesis

Asexual reproduction in which females produce offspring from unfertilized eggs. (Mitosis)

coccoids

7 chromosomal systems, most genetically complex animals on the planet

cuticular respiration

Gas exchange directly through cuticle

Thoracic gills

Plecoptera thorax gills

Retinaculum

- Collembola

- Holds the Furcula in place

Furcula

tail-like appendage on springtails that lets them jump

Cornicles

Tail pipes that secrete defensive chemicals (aphids)

Cauda

aphid tail

Parthenogenic

Asexual form of reproduction found in females (aphids)

Polyphagous

able to feed on various kinds of food

Tymbals

The vibrating panels on the side of male cicadas, used to call females

Tarsi

Final segment of an insect's leg, and is the part that makes contact with the ground

Clypeus

a broad plate at the front of an insect's head.

Fontanelle

termite soldiers have a tube-like projection that contains a sticky substance that entraps their enemies

Cursorial

Used for walking and running. The bog-standard insect leg

Saltatorial

Adapted for jumping with elongated tibia and fibula

Natatorial

Adapted for swimming. Usually with elongated setae on tarsi.

Pronotum

The top plate on the prothoracic segment. Often highly modified for defense, mating contests, or camouflage purposes.

Apterous

- Secondary reproductive termite that lack wings and are derived from workers

- No wings

Arrhenotoky (haplodiploidy)

Production of males pathogenetically (unfertilized eggs) and females from fertilized eggs: Hymenoptera

Stemma

- Second group of simple eyes

Elm zigzag sawfly

Aprocerus leucopoda

eruciform

caterpillar like insect larvae

Phytophagous

Insect that feeds on plants

Kleptoparasitoids

Insects that steal food and pray from another organism

Hyperparasitoids

Species that are parasitoids of other parasitoids

Superhyperparasitoids

Species that are parasitoids of a parasitoid of another parasitoid

Polydnaviruses

Viruses used by parasitoid eggs/larva to shut down host immune system, make it stay in a stage that's good for the parasitoid, make it eat more and prevent it from converting food into fat, but into sugar.

Polyembryony

The condition where a single egg splits into many embryos, producing that many clones of the original egg.

Spiracles

- Breathing tubes of insects located on abdomen

- Open into subelytral cavity

- Respiratory System

- Trachea, Tracheoles, and Taenidia

Campodeiform

- Beetle larvae having an elongated and flattened shape

— Active, predatory.

Elateriform

- Wireworms

- Elongate, tough cuticle

Scarabaeiform

- Grub-like

- Obese, c-shaped

Hypermetamorphosis

When an insect passes through more than the three normal stages of complete metamorphosis.

Planidium larvae

- Specialized form of insect larva seen in the first-instar of insects that have parasitoidal ways of life

- Hypermetamorphosis

- Strepsiptera

Neotenic females

- Retention of juvenile traits

- Strepsiptera

Matricide

Act of killing one's mother

Trochanter

The second segment in the leg

Jugum

A lobe on the forewing of some moths which interlocks with the hindwing in flight

Amplexiform coupling

- The power stroke of the forewing pushes down the hindwing in unison, no connection

- Lepidoptera

Frenulum

Row of bristles along the leading (front) edge of the hind wing of butterflies and moths and also in some Hymenoptera

Retinaculum

A bristle on the butterfly forewing that clasps to the frenulum of the hindwing.

Phytophagous

Feeding on plants

Cantharidin

- Blister beetle toxicity

- Meloidae

luciferin and luciferase

- Two chemicals that when mixed produce light

- Lampyridae

Scutellum

Shield-shaped plate on the back of an insect's thorax

Cryptopleuron

- Propleuron concealed

- Suborder Polyphaga

Malpighian tubules

- Main excretory organs in most insect

- Neuroptera pupate in silk from Malpighian tubules

Cardioglycosides

Monarch catipilers get from eating milkweed

Amplexiform coupling

- Wing coupling mechanisms in the Jugum which render these taxa as "functionally dipterous" (effectively two-winged) for efficient insect flight.

- Lepidoptera

Jugum

- Area at the base of the fore wing of some insects that overlaps the hind wing

- Holds the fore and hind wings together during flight.

- Lepidoptera

Frenulum

- A bristle or group of bristles on the leading edge of the hindwing

- Lepidoptera

Retinaculum

- A hook or tuft on the underside of the forewing

- Lepidoptera

Galeae

A complex organ in Lepidoptera, that forms the proboscis, or feeding device, of the insect

Plumose

feathery

Filiform

thread-like

Pectinate

Branches like the teeth of a comb

Bipectinate Antennae

Branches on two sides

Stemmata

- Simple eyes used for vision by larvae

- Lepidoptera

Labial silk glands

Silk-producing organs found in the larval stage of some insect orders, such as Lepidoptera, Trichoptera, and Hymenoptera

Cremaster

Attaches the pupa to silk fibres spun by the larva

Labial palps

Pair of olfactory organs on the ventral side of a moth's head

Osmeterium

Defensive organ found in all Papilionidae larvae, in all stages. The organ is situated in the prothoracic segment and can be everted

Bifid tarsal claws

- 2 small claws on butterfly feet

- Pieridae

Gregarious

larvae that stay together in groups and feed or move together

Gynandropmorph

- An organism that contains male & female characteristics

- many Leps dimorphic

Ctenidia

Comb-like rows of spines on the head of an adult flea

Chaetosemata

- Cluster of sensory bristles on each side of the head near the eye

- Tortricidae

Macrotrichia

hairs & scales of Lepidoptera wings

juvenile hormone

- Used to control flea populations

- Prevents them from maturing

Calypter

A small lobe on the hind margin near the base of the wing of some flies.

Aschiza

without ptilinum

ptilinum

An eversible sac of the frons in dipterous pupae used for rupturing the puparium

Maggot debridement

- Use of medical grade larvae of the greenbottle fly to dissolve dead and infected tissue from wounds.

- Calliphoridae

Ovoviparous

- Species in which the embryos develop within the mother's body but depend entirely on the yolk sac of their eggs

- Sarcophagidae

Why Insects are. so successful

1. Exoskeleton

2. Early colonization of land

3. Small size

4. High birth rate/short generation time➢ Adaptability

5. Efficient flight

6. Complete metamorphosis