A Bug’s Life
Entomology Study of insects Most successful and preponderant taxon Most diverse of taxon Specially beetles: weevils Ants have largest biomass on globe
Arthropods Phylum Arthropoda = jointed feet Insects, spiders, scorpions, sun spiders, ticks, mites, trilobites Sea spiders, crabs, shrimp, lobsters, amphipods, isopods, millipedes, centipedes
Arthropods
Characteristics Exoskeleton Open circulatory system Chitin Open circulatory system Heart, ostia, dorsal blood vessel Double ganglionated ventral nerve cord
Insects Beetles Flies Moths, butterflies Fleas Lice Thrips Springtails Silverfish, firebrats Mayflies Dragonflies, damselflies Earwigs Crickets, hoppers, katydids Roaches True bugs Bed bugs Beetles Dung, carrion, etc. Flies Moths, butterflies Fleas Lice Thrips
Relation to ecology How do insects communicate? CHEMICALS
Chemicals 2 types Pheromones: same species Releasers: elicit immediate response Primers: modify physiological state Caste designation in termites Allomones: different species
Scheme Scheme similar to symbioses Sender/receiver +/+ → synomones +/- → allomones -/+ → kairomones -/- → antimones
Synomones (+/+) : Allomones Flower odors Sweet smell Foul smell
Synomones (+/+) : Pheromones Sex Practically every insect Aggregation Aposematics Anti-aggregation Bark beetles Trail ants Alarm Ants Aphids Social wasps, bees
Defense Allomones (+/-) TONS of arthropods Released from glands Hymenopterans Roaches Dung beetles Aquatic insects True bugs Cosmopepla bimaculata Triatoma spp.
Defense Allomones (+/-) Stick insects of North Am. Bombardier beetle Termites Caterpillars osmeteria Vinegaroon Millipedes Anti-aphrodisiac pheromone Gnats, mussies Anti-oviposition pheromone Leave “scent” → don’t oviposit Egg mimic on plants
Defense Allomones (+/-) Sequestration Caterpillars, moths, butterflies True bugs Beetles Reflex-bleeding Spanish fly
Allomones : Kairomones (-/+) Release of aphid alarm pheromone Human sweat → female mussies Leaf “scent” → oviposition/feeding Tritrophic Level Interactions Caterpillar → Leaf→ Parasitoid wasp Sound cues! Crickets chirp → Parasitoid flies