Photo by Joel Trick

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

Number of total species

Arthropods= Insects and their relatives Do not have a backbone(invertebrates) Jointed legged animals include; Ticks, mites,spiders,millipedes Centipedes, and insects

What is an insect?

Insect -characters Body divided into three regions

Insect -characters Three sets of legs Easiest character to see

Insect -characters One pair of antennae May be small <antennae

Insect -characters Wings Only birds, bats and insects Only found in adult insects Not all insects have wings (fleas,springtails)

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

Millipedes

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(gradual) Metamorphosis

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

Complete Metamorphosis Orders

Insect Larvae

Exoskeleton Why do insects look so strange?

Exoskeleton Insect covered with hard outer shell Skin is very plastic like Difficult to sense environment

Exoskeleton

Molting

Cast skin of cicada < notice slit along back

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.

Insect mouthparts-two types Chewing mouthparts Sucking mouthparts damage

<Piercing,sucking mouth parts

Chewing mouthparts <chewing mouthparts

Chewing mouthparts <chewing mouthparts

Insect reproduction 1.Short life cycles- most go through generation in 1- 6 weeks 2.Large number of offspring / female ,000 eggs

Insect reproduction Fruit flies- 2 week life cycle 26 generations/year 100 eggs / female Experiment

Insect Reproduction In 1 year from 1 male and 1 female if all offspring survive to breed would produce flies - if pack 1000 flies/cu. in.

Insect Reproduction A ball of fruit flies 96 million miles in diameter which is 2/3 of the distance from earth to sun · Why doesn’t it happen?

Insect classification Orders -to separate use Type of development Type of mouthparts and

Insect classification If present, number and type

Order Orthoptera Roaches Crickets Walking sticks Mantids Grasshoppers

Order Orthoptera Simple development Chewing mouthparts Two pairs of wings/ first set are thickened and leather-like

1st pair leather like, thickened > 2nd pair thin flying wing Orthoptera wings

Orthoptera

Earwigs- Dermaptera Short wing covers- second pair not always developed Simple development Chewing mouthparts Have terminal forceps 20 species in North America

True bugs -Order Hemiptera Simple development Sucking mouthparts Two pairs of wings/ 1st pair a half wing in Heterocera

< Half wing True Bugs- Hemiptera wings Two sets of wings 1st pair thick for 1st half, thin for other < half wing

Half wing > Conifer seed bug

Aphids, scales, ciada Suborder Homoptera Simple development Sucking mouthparts Two pairs of membrane type wings

Adult cicada 1 2

Ash leaf-curl aphids

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

Butterflies and moths - Order Lepidoptera

Scaled wings

Iris borer <true legs <Prolegs with crochets caterpillar

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

Beetles- Order Coleoptera Adult beetle <wing cover

Asian Lady Beetle

Japanese beetle grubs < 3 pairs of legs

True Flies- Order Diptera Complete development-larvae are maggots Chewing mouthparts in larvae/ variable in adults Adults only have 1 pair of wings

Horse fly < 1 pair of wings

Wing veins Antennae 16,914 species in North America 113 Families

Rat-tailed maggots <larvae have no legs

Ants,bees,sawflies Order Hymenoptera Complete development-larvae are maggot like Chewing mouthparts in larvae Two pairs of wings- both membrane like hooked together to work as one

Elm sawfly adult

Hymenoptera wings

Sawfly larvae

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

Photo by Joel Trick

Multi colored Asian Lady Beetle

Harmonia larvae

Cocinellid beetles