Insects in the world

Most successful animals

Make up 2 out of three living things
With other arthropods make up over 75% of all animals
Have been around for 350 million years
Arthropods= Insects and their relatives
Do not have a backbone(invertebrates)
Jointed legged animals include;
Ticks, mites ,spiders ,millipedes
Centipedes, and insects
Insect -characters
Body divided into three regions
Three sets of legs (Easiest character to see)
One pair of antennae (May be small)
Wings
o Only birds, bats and insects
o Only found in adult insects
o Not all insects have wings (fleas,springtails)

Simple(gradual) Metamorphosis

Spiders- Arachnids

4 pairs of legs
No antennae
No wings
2 body divisions
Spiders are not insects

Insect Development or Metamorphosis

Two forms of development (change)
1. Simple/ Partial/ Primitive
2. Complete/ Advanced
Simple metamorphosis

Egg- nymph- adult

All life stages look similar, behave similar;
Whole family can live and feed together

Simple Metamorphosis Orders

Complete Metamorphosis

Egg -Larvae-Pupae-Adult

Larvae not look like adult- are wormlike

Can live in different environment
Eat different food
Larvae usually the main pest

Complete Metamorphosis Orders

Insect Larvae

Molting

Exoskeleton

Insect covered with hard outer shell

Skin is very plastic like
Difficult to sense environment

Insect mouthparts-two types

Chewing mouthparts
Sucking mouthparts

Insect Development
Cold blooded- development influenced by temperature
Most insects inactive below 50 0 F;
Breed, eat, develop faster the warmer it is up to 95 0 F.

Chewing mouthparts

Insect reproduction
Experiment
Fruit flies- 2 week life cycle
26 generations/year
100 eggs / female
In 1 year from 1 male and 1 female if all offspring survive to breed
would produce
10 41 fliesif pack 1000 flies/cu. in.

A ball of fruit flies 96 million miles in diameter which is 2/3 of the

distance from earth to sun

Why doesnt it happen?

Insect classification
26-28 Orders -to separate use
Type of development
Type of mouthparts and
Wings if present, number and type
Order Orthoptera
(Roaches, Crickets, Walking sticks, Mantids, Grasshoppers)
Simple development
Chewing mouthparts
Two pairs of wings/ first set are thickened and leather-like

Order Dermaptera
(Earwigs)
Short wing covers-second pair not always developed
Simple development
Chewing mouthparts
Have terminal forceps
20 species in North America
Order Hemiptera
(True bugs)
Simple development
Sucking mouthparts
Two pairs of wings/ 1st pair a half wing in Heterocerca
Two sets of wings
1st pair thick for
1st half , thin for
other

Order Lepidoptera
(Butterflies and moths)
Complete development-larvae are caterpillars
Larvae have chewing mouth parts
Two pairs of wings/ Covered with scales

Suborder Homoptera
(Aphids, scales, cicada)
Simple development
Sucking mouthparts
Two pairs of membrane type wings

Adult cicada

Order Coleoptera
(beetles)
Complete development- larvae are grubs
Chewing mouthparts larvae and adults
Two pairs of wings-first hardened into wing covers

Order Hymenoptera
(Ants,bees,sawflies)
Complete development-larvae are maggot like
Chewing mouthparts in larvae
Two pairs of wings- both membrane like hooked together to work
as one
Order Diptera
(True Flies)
Complete development-larvae are maggots
Chewing mouthparts in larvae/ variable in adults
Adults only have 1 pair of wings

Example : Elm sawfly adult

Amazing insect facts

Larvae eat 3-4 times their weight / day in food
Aphids can process 100 times weight in plant sap
Some insects can survive being frozen solid

Embryology

The initial action following fertilization is multiplication of the

zygote nucleus and proliferation of protoplasm at the egg periphery
without cell division, the forming of a syncytium.

This is peculiar to insects and has to do with dense and voluminous

yolk within the egg.

Cell membranes form shortly thereafter, making the blastoderm.

Insect embryos reveal some aspects of early evolution, including

formation of the mouthparts from limb segments.

In holometabolous species, adult features form from imaginal discs

within the larval body.

Insect Development & Life Histories

Main Points:

Metamorphosis is a transition in form.

With wings, most important factor in insect evolutionary

progression & diversity.

Growth in arthropods requires molting.

The intervals between molts are stadia; the form at each interval
is the instar.

There are 3 basic variations of development (metamorphosis) in

insects:
ametaboly,
hemimetaboly, and
holometaboly.
Holometaboly involves distinct larval, pupal (transitional), and adult
stages.
Advantages to holometabolous life history include:
reduced larval-adult competition,
better timing of activities with resources,
greater efficiency in both larval and adult phases.
Disadvantages include
vulnerability of the pupal stage and
complications in larval-adult transition.

Hemimetabolous development in a bug (HEMIPTERA, Heteroptera). Each

stage shows progression toward the adult form, best tracked in the external
development of the wings.
Names of hemimetabolous immature
General: nymph
Terrestrial: nymph
Aquatic: nymph or naiad

Growth and development (molting & metamorphosis) in a chironomid

midge, a holometabolous insect.

A) Distribution of imaginal discs in a Drosophila larva (DIPTERA). Many of

the adult features are preformed and packaged in the larval stage. This
simplifies pupal transition.
b) An example: development of wing buds in a caterpillar larva
(LEPIDOPTERA).

Hormones and Molting

Main Points

Molting is necessary in all arthropods in order for growth to

occur; the instar is the particular stage, the stadium is
the interval between molts.

Molting is a complicated, delicate, and precarious act.

Molting can be divided into 7 steps, as per Evans, 1984.

The new cuticle is formed before the old is shed; part of the
old cuticle is recycled; the new instar stretches into the new
exoskeleton.

Major endocrine centers are the brain, corpora allata,

corpora cardiaca, & prothoracic gland.

Major hormone groups that affect molting include juvenile

hormone (JH), ecdysial hormones (ecdysone), &
prothroacicotropic hormone (PTTH).

The seven basic phases of insect molting

REVIEW: Basic insect cuticle structure

Polyphenism in aphids.
Determined by season, food quality, crowding, & predator pressure.
Mediated by hormones. In many spp., involves asexual & sexual
reproductive phase, apterous and winged phases.
Sunflower aphid
a), b) ovoviviparous,
apterous
forms
Summer, plentiful, rich
food
c) sexual alate (lays
eggs) Fall, decreasing
food quality, crowding

Polymorphism
Def.: Marked differences in appearance or behavior within the same
species.
Terms & Determinants:
Polymorphism per se, genetic, e.g. butterfly mimicry clines, rings. Also the
general term (refers to all 3 types).
Polyphenism, environmental:
a. climate, nutrition, e.g. aphids (HEMIPTERA)
b. pollution, e.g. lady beetles (COLEOPTERA)
c. colony-influenced (social/eusocial insects), e.g. ants, bees
(HYMENOPTERA), termites (ISOPTERA)
d. parasite-influenced, e.g. stylopization (HYMENOPTERA)
Polyethism, behavioral, hormones, developmental stage, colony conditions
& feedback especially social insects, e.g. caste polyethism in honey bees.
[Wigglesworth: developmental stages another form of polymorphism,
ref. especially hypermetamorphosis]

Polymorphism
in
social
insects: ants
It involves several axes of
differentiation:
1) sexual [(male vs. queen
(female)] h vs g,
2) reproductive (vs. non
reproductive) h+g vs. a-f,
3) worker castes (grades of
morphology & behavior) a vs. c
vs. f vs. d.

Temporal polyethism in the honey bee, Apis mellifera (HYMENOPTERA).

- housekeeping, nursing
- signaling
- foraging

Age-related polyethism in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Responsive (to

colony & environment), structured (by age), but flexible (contingent on
colony needs).

Insect Longevity
Life cycle duration, (egg to egg) may be dependent on season.

Adult form may be short-lived seldom survives beyond

reproduction.

Immature phase almost always longer duration.

One stage may diapause, extending life duration with no activity.

Determining Factors
Genetic
Environment
Mortality Factors (season, life stage)
Physical Factors (temperature, humidity)
Timing (especially season)
Age Determination
Usually relative age more meaningful, i.e. what instar vs. how
many days.
Correlation with size is tenuous
Difficult in larvae (few rigid body parts to measure)
Factoids: Longest-lived Insects
Cicadas: 17 years (mostly as nymphs)
Some wood-boring beetles: many years
Queen honey bees: ~12 years
Queen termites: > 20 years

Why age-grade insects?

Some practical examples:
1. Pest population outbreak prediction
Agriculture/phytophage, e.g. Caterpillar or weevil infestations in
alfalfa require timing of management program (spray or harvest).
Medical/disease vector, e.g. mosquito control relies on assessment
of stage of growth, which determines state of population relative to
potential for disease spread.
2. Forensic Entomology
Indicator species, e.g. blowflies. Stage of development of larvae on
corpse indicates approximate time of death.

The most reliable age grading of larvae depends on rigid body parts, e.g.
head width &/or mandible dimensions.
Predator-inflicted wing strikes, an element of adult wear.
Dispensable wing edges is a common survival strategy.