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Insect Hunters
Insect Busters
Who Ya Gonna Call?
Hexapoda
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Six-legged
30 million species (Triplehorn & Johnson)
All habitats
31 orders (30 in N.A.)
Typically classified by wing characteristics
– Ptera
• Metamorphosis
– Complete (egg, larva, pupa, adult)
– Incomplete (egg, nymph/naiad, adult)
Ephemeroptera
• Mayflies
• Soft-bodied
• 2 or 3 long, threadlike
tails
• Large, triangular front
wings with small, rounded
hind wings
• Small, bristle-like
antennae
• Live one to two years in
water in nymph stage and
one to two days in adult
stage
Orthoptera
• Plant feeders- pests
to cultivated pests
• Elongated body-may
or may not be winged
• 2 pairs of wings
Forewing (tegmina), Hind
wing larger &
membranous
• Larger hind legs
Orthoptera
• Mandibulate
• Metamorphosis is
simple
• Some of the best
known insect singers
• Grasshoppers &
Crickets (cockroaches
previously)
Blattodea
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Shares many features of grasshoppers & crickets
Oldest winged insect
Flattened oval bodies
Long, swept back antennae
Have wings
Females lay egg packets
Simple metamorphosis
Flourish anywhere there is
sufficient food & warmth
Hemiptera – “True Bugs”
• 2 pair of wings,
– front wing is thick and leathery, tips are membranous;
– hind wings are membranous
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Visible triangle called scutellum
Sucking and piercing mouthpart
Incomplete metamorphosis
Terrestrial and aquatic habitats
Reduvidae - transmit Chagas Disease
Homoptera
• Includes: Cicadas, Hoppers (tree
and leaf), Spittlebugs, Whiteflies, and
Aphids
• There are approximately 45,000
species worldwide – 6,000 of which
are in N. America
• They are all plant feeders
• Metamorphosis is simple in
homopterans
Homoptera
• Methods of reproduction:
– Sexually: Male and Female mate (Cicadas
and Leafhoppers)
– Parthenogenetically: All Female, no mating
• Aphids produce many billions in lifetime
• Characteristics:
– Have sucking, beaklike mouthparts that arise
far back beneath the head
– Wings are uniformly membranous
Neuroptera
• Order name means “nerve wings” due to the
net of crisscrossing veins
• Beneficial because they help control destructive
insects
• Have many veins in 4 transparent wings and an
especially wide border of cross veins on the
front margin of the forewings
• There are about 4,500 species worldwide, and
338 in N. America
Neuroptera
• Includes: Lacewings, Mantidflies,
Antlions, and Spongillaflies
• Characteristics:
– They all have 2 pairs of wings –
similar in size and have elongate
oval shape
– When at rest, the wings are held
“rooflike” over the body. In use, they
beat in a poorly coordinated fashion
– Their mouthparts are adapted for
chewing
– Antennae may be threadlike,
clubbed or toothed (like a comb)
– Most species have large compound
eyes
Neuroptera
• Neuroptera go through complete
metamorphosis:
– Larvae do not resemble the adults
– Most larvae are predators
– All larvae have large, sickle-shaped
mandibles that are used to seize and eat
smaller insects or sponges
– Pupation occurs in silken cocoons spun in
sand or soil
Coleoptera
• Common Name: Beetles
• Largest Order of Insects
• Elytra – armor-like
forewings cover flight
wings
• Segmented legs and
antennae
• Chewing mouthparts with
well developed mandibles
(jaws)
• Simple brain with many
sense organs
Diptera
• Identification
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One pair of membranous wings
Vestigial second pair of wings (halteres)
Large compound eyes
Most have sucking mouth parts
• Complete metamorphosis
– Aquatic and terrestrial larva
• maggots
Diptera
• Diverse group –
inhabiting numerous
niches
• Importance
– Important food source
for many animals
– Parasites
– Vectors for disease
• Malaria, African
Sleeping Sickness,
West Nile, River
blindness
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Moths and Butterflies
Complete metamorphosis
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Egg
Larvae (Caterpillar)- destructive
Pupa (adult)- cocoon or chrysalis
Adult
• Chewing mouthparts in caterpillar and sucking, coiled
mouthparts in the adult
• Scales on the wings
Lepidoptera
• Moths
• No clubs on antennae
• Appear more at night
• Feathery antennae that
pick up pheromones
released by female
• Butterflies
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120,000 Species
Clubbed antennae
Appear more in the day
Slimmer bodies, more
colors
Tricoptera
• Caddisfly
• “hair wings”
• Resemble moths
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No proboscis, instead have pronounced palps
Very long antennae
Most have no scales on wings
Aquatic larvae, instead of terrestrial caterpillars
• Make case of leaves, twigs, sand grains
• Pupae emerge, swim to shore, then adult emerges
Odonata
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Dragonflies and Damselflies
Small antennae
Long legs- not suitable for walking
Chewing mouthparts
Nymphs are aquatic, adults are found near water
Highly predaceous on flying insects
Hymenoptera
• Made up of sawflies, wasps, ants and
bees
• Probably most beneficial of entire insect
class. Contains parasites, predators and
most importantly, pollinators (bees)
• Great diversity of habits and behaviors.
• Most are in social organizations (wasps,
bees and ants)
Hymenoptera
• Ovipositor is tube used to lay eggs.
• In most Hymenoptera have a modified
ovipositor; a sting
• Only females can sting
• The sex of Hymenoptera is determined by
fertilization.
Hymenoptera
Interesting Fact:
*Bees die when they sting because they
have barbs on their stingers that restrict
the stinger from leaving the skin; therefore,
when the bee flies away she is literally
pulling her guts out.
*The queen’s stinger has no barbs so she is
able to sting and not die.
Isoptera
– Termites
– “same wing”
– Commonly called “white ants” WRONG!
• Hind wings are the same size as forewings
• Soft, light-colored body
• No petiole
• Antennae are not elbowed
• Sterile casts are females
only from fertilized eggs
– Caste system
• Reproductives
• Workers
• Soldiers