ENTM midterm 2

Acrididae

Family: Orthoptera

grasshoppers, locusts

Anoplura

(sucking lice)

feeds on: blood, human disease vectors

Hosts: found on specific body parts of mammalian host

head is narrower than prothorax

consists of head lice + body lice

Ant-hemipteran mutualism

Both partners benefit (ants: gain carbohydrate-rich resource aphids: gain protection)

Antlion

(Family Myrmeleontidae)

Slender body, Weak flier, adult: nocturnal

larvae: predator

- require sandy soil/covered with something so they are protected from frequent /divert rain falls

- larvae: build funnel - like trap in sandy soil use to catch insect preys

convergent evolution: Worm lion (diptera)

Aphididae / aphids

(Suborder Sternorrhyncha)

- Usually wingless during cloning phases

- Alates: winged reproductives during sexual reproduction phase

- Transmit plant diseases

- Ant-aphid mutualism

Beetles vectoring plant diseases

Pierce's disease transmitted by leafhopper beetle

Chestnut blight: bark beetles

Dutch elm disease transmitted thru fungus by bark beetles

Emerald ash borer attacks ash trees

Bombardier beetle

Family Carabidae / ground beetle

chemical weapon gas against predator

Buprestidae

Jewel beetles

- Shiny/metallic

- textured cuticle

- thin film interference

- prefer wood (from dying or weakened trees)

- bore tunnels in wood (larvae)

Capitulum

a swollen, fatty extension of the stick insect eggs -> facilitate ants' carrying of eggs to their nest (diversify survival of phasmida)

Carrion beetles

(Family Silphidae)

Chagas disease

disease is caused by parasite Trypanosoma cruzi

- transmitted thru fecal pellets of kissing bugs

Characteristics of thrips

- short legs, narrow wings w/ long fringe of hairs

- Asymmetrical mouthparts - only left mandible involved in forming a stylet along with maxillae (right mandible is reduced & non-functional)

- Occasionally parthenogenetic

- Leaves small scar on fruits

- 2 feeding nymphal then 2 non-feeding stage; winged adult stage

Chewing lice vs. sucking lice

Chewing lice (Mallophaga)

Feeds on dead skin cells, hair, or feathers

90% feed on birds; remainder species feed on mammals

head wider than prothorax

Sucking lice (Anoplura)

Feeds on blood, human disease vectors

found on specific body parts of mammalian host

head is narrower than prothorax

Cicadellidae

(leafhoppers and sharpshooters)

- Can be very damaging (Feeding)

Disease transmission (Pierce's disease)

- Excessive honeydew production

- Some have extraordinary jumping mechanism: "gear-like" structure on base of hind legs, keeping legs synchronized when insect jumps

Cicadidae

Cicadas

- Produce very loud sounds (tymbals)

- Fossorial front legs in nymphs (digging tunnel)

- Synchronous emergence

- 4 species live on a 13-year cycle, and 3 for 17 years

- Predator avoidance strategy: eliminate possibility of potential predators receiving periodic population boosts by synchronizing their own generations to divisors of cicada emergence period

- Lay eggs in tree

Coccinellidae

Lady bird beetles

- Larvae spotted or banded, with minute spines

- Adults with oval body shapes, bright coloration

- Feed on other plant pests (ex: aphids)

- Aposematic coloration (reflex bleeding)

- Noxious chemical

- Some ladybugs "migrate" to specific overwintering spots

Collembola

Springtails

- Collophore (peg-like structure on 1st abdominal segment)

- Primitive compound eye

- Furcula (jumping fork) -> end of abdomen

- Live in moist environment (even water surface); soil/ bark/ freshwater ponds

- Dense populations

- Indirect sperm transfer

Common cockroach pests

Brown-banded (warm dry areas near appliances)

German (homes)

American (basement/damp areas)

Oriental (basement/damp areas)

- causes asthma

Convergent evolution

independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineages

Worm lion (diptera) - ant lion (myrmeleontidae)

Mantid (mantodea) - mantidfly (mantispidae)

Corixidae

(water boatmen)

- Freshwater aquatic

- Lack gills, carry air bubble down into the water to take oxygen from water

- Natatorial legs

- Mostly herbivores, eat algae

Courtship behaviors in hexapods

Calling (katydids / crickets)

pheromones

Nuptial gifts

Fighting

Visual displays

Dactylopiidae

Cochineals (Suborder Sternorrhyncha)

- Sessile parasites on plants

- Lives on cacti in genus Opuntia

- Natural dye carmine is derived

Darkling beetle

Order Coleoptera

Fused Elytra

Flightless

Dermaptera

Earwigs

- Chewing mouthparts

= Short leathery forewings

- Large cerci on abdomen (for mating & defense)

- Nocturnal

- Feed on plant materials, young citrus fruit

- Maternal care of brood / Not cooperative

- Females cleans and re-piles the eggs

- Chemical defense (doru taeniatum) in the glands when attacked (pinched body parts to squirt opposite way)

Diplura

"two-pronged tails" "forked tails"

- Narrow, elongate body, usually colorless

- Lacks eyes

- 2 abdominal cerci

- Similar to collembolans, indirect sperm transfer (spermatophore in the environment)

Diving beetle

Order Coleoptera (Family Dytiscidae)

- Can dive

- Predaceous

- Pupate in mud

Larvae -> spiracle at end of abdomen

Adult -> air bubble, natatorial leg

Dobsonflies

Family Corydalidae / Holometabolous

- Larvae are aquatic (aka hellgrammites)

- Huge male mandibles

- Good fishing bait

- Voracious predator (as larvae)

- Pupate in soil

- Adult: terrestrial

Dragonflies vs. damselflies

Odonata Suborder

Dragonfly: wings broad at base and held horizontally at rest; no external gills (rectal gill)

Damselflies: wings narrow at base and held over back at rest

has external gills

Drywood termites vs. subterraneantermites

Drywood termites: live in colonies above ground directly in dry wood; produce holes where fecal pellets are pushed out from wood (small piles on floor)

Subterranean termites: live in soil and feed on wood in contact w/ soil; construct tubes for shelter as they travel b/w underground colonies and structure

Different habitat + behavior

Dung beetles

(Family Scarabaeidae): Adults eat soft dung

rollers & tunnelers & dwellers

Dung as provision for: developing larvae

- Recyclers of animal dung

- associated with Re, supreme being and sun god in Egyptian culture

Elateridae

click beetles

ability to produce a clicking sound as a means of self-defense

Elytra

"Kolean": sheath

- protection of hindwings

- armor

- retention of water

- stabilization during flight

Entognatha

Subphylum Hexapoda w/ Collembola, Diplura and Protura

Mouthparts are large (concealed in head capsule); wingless; indirect sperm transfer

Ephemeroptera

Mayflies (remember adults are short-lived)

- adults do not feed, only disperse, mate, and die

- Large triangular front wings

- 1 median caudal filament and 2 cerci (long)

- Adults terrestrial, nymphs aquatic (respire thru abdominal gills)

- Relatively long life cycles (live as nymphs for months to years)

- Subimago stage - final stage before molting to adult (imago)

Mass emergence swarms, lay eggs in water

Very important in food webs

Epidemic typhus fever

Transmission of disease by human body lice

Caused by bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii

Symptom: sudden headache, chills, high fever, protration, coughing and severe muscular pain, skin rash

- Typically occurs in conditions of overcrowding and poor hygiene aka prisons and refugee camps

- Common in concentration camps in WWII

Feeding habit of neuropterans

- Lacewings (family Chrysopidae) and antlions (family Myrmeleontidae), are predatory and feed on other insects

- mantispids (family Mantispidae), feed on nectar and pollen as adults

Filter chamber

Modification in a gut

"filter chamber" separates excess fluid from plant sap for rapid removal "honeydew"

Furcula

(jumping fork) -> end of abdomen

Gregarious vs. solitary phases in locusts

Solitary phase: low density, low reproductive rate, short flights, lighter green in color

Gregarious phase: high density, high reproductive rate, flies far,

darker in color

Gryllidae

crickets (Suborder Orthoptera)

Head lice vs. body lice

Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis): mostly found on hair on head; Eggs (nits) of head lice attached to hair

Body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus): mostly found in pubic region, hygiene DOES affect likelihood of getting body lice

; can cause intense itching and rash

- prefer to develop off human body; eggs are laid on clothes, and , when not feeding, adults and nymphs reside in the clothing

Hemimetabolous development

incomplete metamorphosis; egg, nymph, adult

Hemipteran feeding habit

- piercing and sucking plant or animal fluids

- Proboscis

Plant-feeding hemipterans: aphids and whiteflies

Blood-feeding hemipterans: kissing bugs and bed bugs

- transmits disease (Chagas disease)

Hemipteran mouthparts

- sucking mouthparts (proboscis)

- mandibles and maxillae: sheathed within a modified labium to form a proboscis

Pierce tissues and sucking out the liquids

Heteroptera mouthpart

piercing-sucking mouthparts, labium folds

Holometabolous development

Complete metamorphosis; egg, larva, pupa, adult

Honeydew

weet, sticky substance excreted by sap-sucking insects

Cicadellidae (leafhoppers and sharpshooters)

Suborder Sternorrhyncha (aphids, scale insects, and whiteflies)

How do insects breathe underwater

- air bubble (water striders)

- gills (larvae of dragonflies, damselflies, and mayflies, diving and Whirligig beetles)

Hydrogen peroxide

Chemical compound of hydrogen and oxygen; a colorless liquid with a characteristic odor and slightly acid taste.

- Defensive strategy of bombardier beetles

Hydroquinone

Defensive strategy of bombardier beetles

Isoptera

(member of Order Blattodea): Termites

2 pair of similarly sized wings (winged reproductive only)

Abdomen broadly joined to thorax

Differential caste morphology: Reproductives: king & queen

Workers

Soldiers - Nasute & Mandibulate

- Feed on dead plant material (leaves, twigs, wood, lumber,

feces) - cellulose

Some are able to digest cellulose thru a mutualistic

relationship with microbial symbionts in their gut

Some will maintain specific fungus garden and feed

on it

Japanese beetle

Scarab beetles (Superfamily Scarabaeoidea)

- Popillia japonica

- Serious agricultural pest in US

Adults - Skeletonize leaves of trees and shrubs (feed on tissues between veins)

Larva - Attack root system of grass (important pest in lawn, golf courses)

Kissing bug

(Subfamily triatominae)

- Nocturnal

- Use heat and odor to locate hosts

- Transmits Chagas disease (disease is caused by parasite Trypanosoma cruzi)

- transferred thru fecal pellets

Lacewings

(Family Chrysopidae)

- Adult, eggs on stalks, cocoon (pupa inside) w/ silk on plant , larvae w/ sickle-like mouthparts (predator)

- Voracious chrysopids are reared for sale as biological control agents of insect and mite pests in agriculture and gardens

- Larvae -> voracious predator biological control agent

- Can hear bat sounds and closes its wings and free falls to avoid capture (Chrysopidae insects have ears near the bases of forewings)

Lampyridae

- fireflies/lightning bugs

- seen near water, as their larvae live in damp soil or in the water

- Luminescent organ on abdomen (involves specialized cells, photocytes)

- Luciferin, luciferase, energy, and oxygen

Adult: attract mate

Larvae: aposematic signal

Luminescent mechanism in fireflies

- bioluminescence, which they use to attract mates or to communicate with other fireflies

- produced by a chemical reaction in their bodies that involves the enzyme luciferase and a substrate called luciferin

Mallophaga characteristics

Chewing lice

- Feeds on: dead skin cells, hair, or feathers

- Hosts: 90% feed on birds; remainder species feed on mammals

- head wider than prothorax

Mantodea

(soothsayer): praying mantids

- Large raptorial front legs

- Triangular hand

- Large compound eye

- Chewing mouthparts

- Masters of camouflage

- Ambush predators

Produce ootheca (foamy egg sac -> harderns)

Unusual mating (sexual cannibalism)

Maternal care of eggs in earwigs

- Females cleans and re-piles the eggs

tending increases survival rate

Mecoptera

Scorpionflies

- Male "scorpion" tail - enlarged genitalia

- Female lacks "scorpion" tail

- Nuptial gift by male -> in some species

- Hangingfly (mecoptera) -> resemble crane fly (absence of halteres)

Neuroptera

lacewings, mantidflies, antlions

- With numerous cross veins

- 4 wings same size

- Adult neuropterans feed on nectar, pollen, and aphid honeydew, while the larvae are voracious predators

Odonata

dragonflies & damselflies (Hemimetabolous)

- Large, many-veined, membranous wings

- Chewing mouthparts in adults & nymphs

- Adult cerci function as claspers while mating (male)

- Adults terrestrial, nymphs aquatic with rectal gill pads

Pheromone use in beetles

- Carpet beetle use pheromones to locate mates

- communication, aggregation, and mate attraction

Phthiraptera

("true" lice)

- scansorial leg (for clinging)

- feed on fur, feathers, skin debris, secretions

- chewing and sucking lice

- Ectoparasites of mammals and birds

- Wingless

Plecoptera habitat

(stoneflies)

- nymphs are aquatic, prefer clean, cold water

- grazers or predators

- tracheal gills

- Prefer well-oxygenated / fast flowing water

Potato beetle

Leaf Beetles (Family Chrysomelidae)

- Major Crop pests

- feed on several different plants within nightshade family

- Quickly develops resistance to insecticides

Protura

Entognatha hexapods

- very small (about 1mm long)

- "proto" (first, original), "ura" (tail): a name implying they have primitive physical features

- lacks antennae (unique among hexapods)

- first pair of legs are sensory

- eyes absent

- live in moist soil

- detritivores - feed on dead organisms material

Psocodea

booklice, barklice

- feed primarily on fungi, algae, lichen, and organic debris in nature but also feed on starch-based household items like grains, wallpaper glue and book bindings

- generally prefer humid conditions

- chewing mouthparts

Pyrophilous

Loving fire; thriving in a habitat that recently has been burnt or attracted to recently burnet forests.

ex: Jewel Beetle Melanophila species

Scansorial leg

for clinging found on true lice Suborder Phthiraptera

Scarabaeoidea

Scarab beetles

- Brightly colored/metallic

- Mostly scavengers (as immatures)

- Distinctive antennae

lamellate antennae (layers of thin plates)

Scorpionflies

Mecoptera

- Male "scorpion" tail - enlarged genitalia

- Female lacks "scorpion" tail

- Nuptial gift by male -> in some species

- Hangingfly (mecoptera) -> resemble crane fly (absence of halteres)

Sound perception / production insects

Stridulation: katydids/crickets (wings) & grasshoppers (rub hind legs against edge of closed wings)

tymbals: cicadas

moths and beetles can detect the ultrasonic calls of bats

Crucial in courtship and most have distinct songs

Stridulation in Orthoptera

Grasshoppers rub hind legs against edge of closed wings

Katydids and crickets stridulate with wings only — can move while making sound

- Tympanal organ in katydid and cricket: front tibia

- Tympanal organ in grasshopper: first abdominal segment

Subimago

a stage in the development of some insects (such as the mayflies) between the nymph and imago in which the insect is able to fly but becomes mature only after a further molt

Tettigoniidae

Katydids

Thysanoptera

fringe (thysanos) wings (ptera) Thrips

short legs, narrow wings w/ long fringe of hairs

Asymmetrical mouthparts - only left mandible involved in forming a stylet along with maxillae (right mandible is reduced & non-functional)

Occasionally parthenogenetic

- Leaves small scar on fruits

- 2 nymphal stages and 2 non-feeding stages

Thysanura

Silverfish

- Wingless

- Ametabolous development

- Long, paired abdominal cerci and a single median, tail-like caudal filament

- Compound eyes

- Indirect sperm transfer

- Found in decaying vegetation

- Some live inside of ant nest, probably scavenging the seeds collected by ants

- Can be household pests (eats paper)

Tiger beetles

Family Carabidae

- Some are brightly colored

- Fast! up to 5.6 mph

- Hiding in tunnel in ground they built and wait for prey

- Anchored inside tunnel by their tail / visual hunter

- Secrete hot, noxious gas/liquid to deter predators

Trichoptera

Caddisflies

- Related to butterflies & moths (lepidoptera)

- Larvae have various feeding habits depending upon species (larval variability)

- Shredders/scrapers/collectors - larvae mostly feed on periphyton (layer of algae)

True bugs

Phylum Arthropoda

Subphylum Hexapoda

Class Insecta

Order Hemiptera

Tympanal organs of insects

Tympanal organ in katydid and cricket: front tibia

Tympanal organ in grasshopper: first abdominal segment

Moths and beetles: on the thorax or abdomen

Tymbals in cicada

- on sides of the abdominal segments

- found in males to attract mates

Weevils

Family Curculionidae

- One of the largest animal families in existence (>80K species)

- Distinctive morphology!

- Long snout and geniculate antennae

- Serious pests w/ narrow host range

Boll Weevil: Major pest of cotton

Whirligig beetle

Family Gyrinidae

Gregarious aquatic beetles

"two pairs" of eyes : above + below water

Good fliers

Keep air bubble under elytra for aquatic respiration

Larvae and adults predacious

Wood boring beetles

Many families eat and destroy wood - either as larvae or adults (xylophagous)

- Consume wood (cellulose)

Ecological roles: forest turnover, nutrient recycling